


i^f^if c.x^***'*^^ (j^^'^Jt^ 



LETTERS 



ON 



HISTORY. 



tSSk 






\ 



v"^ -^-»*^iV 



^ ^% 



LETTERS 




THE STUDY AND USE 




OF 




Ancient and Modern History : 



CONTAINING 



OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS 



SES AND CONSfiCtUENCES OF THOSE EVENTS WHICH 
HAVE PRODUCED COJiTSPICUOUS CHANGES IN THE 



ASPECT OF THE "WORLD, 



AND THE 



GENERAL STATE OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. 



BY JOHN BIGLA?^, 
iutlior of " Reilsctions on tho Pvesarrection and ilscension." 

VriTH NOTES, 

By the Rev. JEDEDIAH MORSE, D. D. 



i 

iier ample page 

Rich vrith the spoils of Time. — q-ray. 



«HBBE W8»«i4»MUaj^ l A«Wlffl » Wi!»ayjjBy j a i .ttf>.jhtil8J8J&^^ 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRINTED FOH W, W. ^VOOnWAr.O, NO. 52, COEJ^iA^ OF SECOND 
AND ClIESNrJT STREETS. 



mi^ 



Yi\ 



s. 



\ 



* % 






.-VA 



.DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, to wit : ^ 

BE IT HEMEMSERED, that on the eigliteenth day of June, in the tbirty- 
iiinth year of the independence of the United Stptes of America, A. D. 1814, 
'W. 1-7. 'Woodwaid, of the S3.i(] district, hath deposited in this office the title of a 
book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit : 

Letters en the Study and Use of A ncient and Modern History : containing 
observations and reflections on the causes aad consequences of those events which 
have produced conspicuous clianges in the aspect of the world, and the general 
state of human affairs. Bv John Bigland, author of " Reflections on the Resur- 
vection and Ascension." With Notes, by the Rev. Jedediah Morse, D. D. 

Her ample page 

Rich with the spoils of Time. — gray. 

In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, " An act 
'' for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of raaJDs, charts, and 
'■books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein 
■ mentioned. " And also to the act, entitled, " An act supplementary to an act, 
"■ entitled, " An act ibr the enccaragemeat of learning, by securing the copies oJ 
' niaps, charts ana book?, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the 
'■ titnes therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of de- 
* j'-'ninr. engraving, and etching historical and otlier prints." 

DAVID CALDWELL, 
Clerk of the District of Fennsylvania-. 



Exchange 
9 1 



n5^^ 



%- THE 



FAVOURABLE SENTIMENTS 



OF THE 



LONDON REVIEWEKS. 



"MS. BIGLAND displays in this vo^ 
lume a well cultivated and comprehensive 
mind. His style is generally correct; his 
information is extensive ; and the many per- 
tinent remarks and inferences with which he 
has enriched this summary of general histo- 
ry, meet our cordial approbation." 

Monthly Review, June, 1804. 

" We are well pleased with this publica- 
tion, which, founded on the authority of the 
most celebrated historians, exhibits a Yerj 
useful manual for the younger student. It 
is written with great vigor and perspicuity ; 
nor do we see any sentiments obtrudec 
against which, as they relate either to reli 
gion or politics, it appears necessary to can 

A 2 



•I 



( 6 ) 

tioii the young reader. It is an useful un- 
dertaking well executed." 

British Critic, July, 1804- 

" This little historic digest, collected from 
most' unexceptionable authors, is executed 
>Yith great neatness and propriety. The 
divisions, or " periods," are clear and dis- 
criminate. The diiferent historic details are 
distinct and perspicuous ; the reflections are 
just and appropriate. On the whole, the 
letters cl$im our approbation." 

Critical Review, July, 1804. 



PREFACE. 



THE utility of historical information being universally 
acknowledged, an attempt to facilitate its acquisition cannot 
fail of meeting with the approbation of the public, and its ap- 
pearance in the world will be exempted from the necessity 
of apology. It may not, however, be amiss to exhibit a 
sketch of the plan. 

To comprise a history of the world, in a work of so limit- 
ed an extent, would appear a ridiculous attempt ; and yet, 
perhaps, so much as is worth retaining in the memory might 
be brought within a narrow compass. The most uninterest- 
ing narratives of battles and sieges, of desolation and carnage 
a thousand times repeated and swelled with a long train of 
well-authenticated, and often merely ideal circumstances, may 
amuse vulgar mindsj but can afford little entertainment to an 



viii PREFACE. 

intelligent reader, whose ideas are more enlarged, and who 
desires to form a comprehensive view of things. The in- 
quisitive mind, desirous of drawing from history a true pic- 
ture of human existence, contemplates the origin and pro- 
gress of the arts and sciences, of systems and opinions, and 
civilizatioD and commerce ; in fine, of the whole mass of hu- 
man improvements, and the progressive advancement of so- 
ciety. The details of those important affairs, are either 
totally wanting in the records of past ages, or obscure and 
uncertain. No more than general views can therefore be 
obtained. The reader who peruses history with a view to 
render it a source of general information, to acquire a facility 
of application and readiness of allusion to moral events, with 
their causes and consequences, and to the political, religious, 
and social society of mankind in the different periods of time, 
will endeavour to fix in his mind the leading facts, the out- 
lines and decisive turns of human affairs, the important events 
which have in a particular manner changed the aspect of the 
world, determined the opinions, or fixed the destiny of a con- 
siderable part of mankind. 

To facilitate the acquisition and remembrance of the most 
important, the most interesting, and indeed the only essential 
part of historical knowledge, is the design of the following 
essays. A summary of the leading facts of Ancient and 



PREFACE. ix 

Modern History is brought forward in chronological order, 
divided into ten distinct periods, of which the first inclmdeg 
the whole space of time from the earliest records to the sub- 
version of the Babylonian monarchy ; the second contains 
the space between the establishment of the Persian empire, 
by Cyrus, and its overthrow by Alexander ; the third com- 
prises the time which elapsed from the reign of Alexander 
to the coming of Christ; and the fourth begins at the Chris- 
tian sera, and ends at the elevation of Constantine to the so- 
vereignty of the Roman empire ; the reign of that prince, on 
account of its singular importance and conspicuous effects;, is 
distinctly considered as the fifth period ; from the death of 
Constantine to the final subversion of the empire constitutes 
the sixth period ; the seventh begins at the subversion of the 
Roman empire, and continues to the reign of Charlemagne ; 
the eighth begins at the death of Charlemagne, and continues 
till the fifteenth century, which was peculiarly characterized 
by the revival of letters, the invention of printing, the disco- 
very of America, the extension of commerce, &c. ; the ninth 
comprehends that age of enterprise and adventure which 
begins at the middle of the fifteenth, and continues to near 
the end of the sixteenth century ; and the tenth period com- 
mences from that important £era, and exhibits a general view 
of modern times. The historical basis of the work is found- 



X PREFACE. 

ed on the authority of the most intelligent historians. Among 
the moderns^ Dr. Riissel, Dr. Robertson, L'Abbe Raynal, 
Mr. Gibbon, Mr. de Messance, Mr. Du Cange, and M. de 
Montesquieu, besides a great number of others, have been 
consulted ; and nothing of an unauthenticated nature is ad- 
vanced. Reflections, rather than details of facts, constitute 
the historical summary, serving only as a necessary basis 
for observation. The intention of the author has been to 
render it conducive to the information of those who are but 
little acquainted with historical reading, and who have neither 
leisure nor inclination to peruse the numerous and prolix 
treatises which constitute the mass of historical information, 
as well as to make it an useful remembrancer to those who 
are conversant in history, and have perused more circum- 
stantial details of those things which are here exhibited in a 
general representation. The whole design is to exliibit a 
concentrated view of the history of mankind, to delineate the 
state of the human mind, under all its various modifications 
arising from external and adventitious causes. To perform 
this well, is, however, no easy task. The narrations ought 
to be concise and expressive, the representations just and 
picturesque, the investigations accurate and clear, the obser- 
vations applicable and striking, the reflections just and ap- 
propriate. How far the author has succeeded in his attempt, 



PREFACE. xi 

is left to the judgment of intelligent readers. The utility of 
the design will scarcely be called in question; the public 
must decide on the merits of the execution* 



COHTEHTS 



OF 

LETTERS on the Study and use of Ancient and Modern History ; containing 
observations and reflections on the causes and consequences of those events 
which have produced conspicuous changes in the aspect of the world, and tht 
general state of human affairs. 



BY JOHN BIGLAND, 

Author of 
"reflections on the resurhectioi^ and ascension/ 



Her ample page 

Rich with the spoils of Time. 

Gray, 



LETTER I. 



\yURIOSITY natural to man : importance of giving it a proper direction.-* 
Reading and conversation necessary for acquiring a knowledge of mankind. — 
Difference between poetry, romance, and history ; preference due to the latter. — 
General observations on the nature and use of history. — Neglect of the ancient 
historians relative to the most important matters j the progress of arts, sciences, 
literature, commerce, &c. 25 — SO 

LETTER II. 

Whether the study of history leave a tendency to instil a love of war : the rcasoM 
why it may sometimes have that effect on youthful minda. 3(^-35 

B 



xiv CONTENTS. 



LETTER III. 

The use of historical knowledge in eradicating narrow and illiberal prejudi* 
cee, by displaying the influence of systems, and establishing opinions on 
the }mman mind. 35 — 38 



LETTER IV. 

' innumerable advantages resulting from the study of history : difficulty of discnml- 
nating between truth and fiction : the means to be used for that purpose : re- 
marks on the historical writings of the Greeks and Romans. — Remarks oa 
; ecclesiastical history : circumstance which ought to be considered in estimating 
the probability of facts, and the general authenticity of historical informa- 
^iion. 38—42 



LETTER V. 

.Necessity of strict attention to geography and chronology, in reading history : 
geographical errors more easily corrected than historical mistakes and misrep- 
resentations. — An attention to geography and chronology extremely condu- 
cive to the easy retention as well as the perfect understanding, of historical 
information. 42—46 



LETTER VL 

The knowledge of history and geography essential to liberal education. — The mi- 
nute details of history neither possible nor necessary to be kept in the memory : 
a general view of history necessary to be impressed on the mind : the great 
outlines, leading facts, and important events easy to be retained in the me- 
mory. 46—48 



LETTER VII. 

A general ^•iew of the history of mankind : on the primeval ages : the period 
fixed for the commencement of profane history. — General view of the scriptural 
history : philosophical conjectures on the creation : The Mosaical account of 
Ihe creation, perfectly consistent with the known principles of natural philoso- 
phy r Uie consistency of the eix days work of creation, according to the Mosaic 



CONTENTS. xy 



representation with those principles, concisely examined and explained.— The 
books containing the scriptural history distinctly coniidered : occasional errors 
in the scriptural history, imply no impeacliment of their general authenticity, 
and aflford no solid argument against the Divine authority of the Christian 
religion. 43— 5'j 



LETTER IX.^ 

The view of scriptural history continued ; and particular remarks on the relation 
of Nebuchadneszar's insanity . 55—78 



LETTER X. 

General view of mankind duj;ing the period of time included in the SLtcred history : 
the state of learning and commerce among the Jews, Egyptians, Tyrians, &c. : 
general remarks on the Egyptians and Babylonians : origin of Zabaism, or the 
worship of tlie celestial bodies in Babylon.— Origin of jaaicml astrology at Ba- 
bylon : the groundless futility of that science ; its consistency with the ideas of 
the Babylonians: and its inconsistency with natural philosophy ; its extensive 
spread and long : .utinued influence on the human mind. — Degeneracy of Zaba- 
ism into idolatry, at Babylon. — Obscurity of the Assyrian and Babylonian 
history. — Some conjectures on the national genius of the Babylonians. — De- 
scription of the observatory and tower of Belus. — Description of Babylon. — 
Observations on the advantages resulting from th^ open and rural plan of Baby- 
lon. — Degeneracy of the Babylonians after the death of Nebuchadnesjsar. — 
Conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. — General aspect of the world in the time of the 
Babylonian empire. — Foundation of Home. — Primitive state of Rome. 78 — U^ 



LETTER XL 

state of the Persian Monarchy: invasion of Greece by Darius Hjstaspes : by 
Xerxes ; retreat of Xerxes ; defeat of Mardonius at Platea. — Subsequent affiuis 
of Greece and Persia j elevation and character of Philip, king of Macedonia ; 
hie preparations for the Persian war ; his tragical death. — Observations on the 



IXj instead of VIII, appears a mistake of ike Author^ or English printer. 



xvi CONTENTS. 



general aspect and importance of the wars between the Greeks and Persisins. — 
Alexander's political and military character j undertakes the war ; the founda- 
tion of Alexandria 5 his death at Babj'lon. — General observations on the pro- 
gress of arts, fciences, literature, &c. among the Persians, Egyptians, Jews, and 
Greeks, during the period which elapsed between the conquest of Babylon by 
Cyrus and that of the Persian empire by Alexander ; with the state of Rome 
during the above period.^ — Savage state of Europe in those ages ; with general 
reflections on the vicissitudes of sublunary things, and the wonderful scheme of 
Diviae Providence. 82 — 100 



LETTER XII. 

The consequences which followed Alexander's death : dissentions and the tragical 
fate of the Macedonian generals : the effect of the conquest of Persia considered. 
— Establishment of the Greek kingdom of Egypt by Ptoloray Lagus : Alexan- 
dria made the capital : foundation of the Alexandrian library by Ptolomy Phi- 
^adelphus ; and the Septuagint translation of the scriptures by his order. — Af- 
fairs of tlie Jews : establishment of the Asmonean kingdom of the Jew s : the 
subversion of that monarchy by tlie Romans ; and its reinstatement in the fami- 
ly of Herod the Great ; final reduction of Judea to a Roman province. — Gradual 
but slow advancement of the Roman power : small extent of the Roman terri- 
tory : general manners of the first Romans : examination of Hannibal's conduct 
in not besieging Rome after the battle of Canna : rapid aggrandizement of Rome 
after the conquest of Carthage: Her intestine commotions, originating from 
the opposite factions of Patricians and Plebeians, which ended in the extinction of 
the republican system of governmeut. Establishment of the imperial govern- 
ment of Rome. — General aspect of the Roman empire ^ unhappy state of the 
Romans under the republican sj-stem ; and examination of what was falsely 
called Roman liberty. General state of society among the Romans : examina- 
tion of the question whether Rome ever grew more wealthy than in the reign of 
Augustus : progress of science and literature among the Romans during the 
republican government. — Asiatic luxury introduced into Rome. — The power- 
ful effects of ancient eloquence considered, and the causes of its force, in moving 
the passions, investigated. — View of the state of slavery among the ancients j 
especially the Romans j with the causes of its existence, and the gradual ame- 
lioration of that unhappy state ; with the causes of that amelioration. — Reflec- 
tions on the inhumanity of the Romans to their prisoners of war. View of the 
state of the human mind in regard to its religious ideas, previous to the promul- 
gation of Christianity: systems of the philosophers: popular opinions of the 
philosophers concerning the mediatorial and subordinate divinities, and a fu- 
ture state : origin ef Polvtheiym ; mythologies of the Greeks and Romans j 



CONTENTS. xvii 



origin of idol worship: necessity of a divine revelation. — Promulgation of Chris- 
tianity : reasons of its rejection by the Jews ; its progress among the Gentiles ; 
proofs of its divine authority, exhibited to the Gentiles of that and the suc- 
ceeding ages, in the final destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and 
the final dispersion of the Jews, 100 — 1 ! t 



LETTER XIIL 

View of the Roman empire : summary of the most remarkable occurrences undef 
the imperial government ; political system of the imperial more pacific than 
that of the republican government; advantages of an extensive monarchy; ii^ 
subjects more happy than those of petty states : monarchy preferable to republi- 
canism ; the Romans more happy under the imperial than under the republican 
government. — Irruptions of the Quadi, Altemanni, Goths, &c. into the empire ; 
unprosperous reign of Gallienus ; the barbarians repulsed, and the empire re- 
stored to its former splendour by Claudius, Probus, Aurelianus, &c. — Division 
of the empire by Dioclesianus, Maximianus, &c. ; plan of that division : elcva-, 
tion of Constantine to the undivided sovereignty. — View of the Roman constitiv- 
tion under the 'iiperial government : military systems under the Emperors : 
pay and privileges of the legionary soldiers : establishment of the famous corps 
of Praetorian guards, their pay, &c^ their number, their final abolition. — la- 
crease of luxury and eiubeliishment of the city of Rome under the Emperor's : 
dress, amusements, &c. of the Romans ; decline of Roman literature during that 
period. — Amelioration of the condition of slaves under the imperial govcrnuieiit ; 
persecutions of the Christians under the imperial government : investigation of 
the real causes from Avhence those persecutions originated : exculpation of 
the Emperors : cessation of persecution at the elevation of Constantine. 



LETTER XIV. 

The reign of Constantine, an important and interesting period in tlie nificry of tlie 
world ; its influence in succeeding ages ; general view of the reinarkal>le, poli- 
tical, and military occurrences of this reign. — Investigation of the isiotives 
which induced Constantine to embrace and establish the christian religion : t!ie 
gTound of Mr. Gibbon's suppositions examined : critical enquiry concerning the 
authenticity of Constantine's celebrated vision; arguments adduced, whicn 
tend to invalidate the truth of the fact; other arguments equally weighfv, 
which corroborate it. 167— 1;3 

B 2 



^Tiii CONTENTS. 



LETTER XV. 

State of religion during the reign of Constantiae ; origin of the differences of 
opinion among Christians ; Council of Nice : persecution of the Arians. — Build- 
ing of Constantinople., and removal of the seat of empire j the reasons of that 
transaction examined : situation of Constantinople, far preferable to that of 
Rome : some remarks on the situation of Constantinople, in regard to commer- 
cial advantages and disadvantages. — Consequences of the removal of the impe- 
rial residence examined : those consequences often misrepresented by histori- 
ans. — Domestic infelicity of Constantine ; and reflections on the domestic un- 
happiness of many who have enjoyed the greatest degree of prosperity in their 
public concerns. 179 — 193 



LETTER XVI. 

Critical inqiiirj' info (hfi state of ancient Rome, in regard to extent, wealth and 
population : number of inhabitants in Rome in the reign of Theodosius ; re- 
marks on a note in a popular Treatise of Geography : comparison of Babylon, 
Rome; and London, in regard to extent and population : London, a commercial 
dty, Rome not commercial ; dJRcrimjnating circumstance in their mode of sup- 
pliej? : remarks on the common esiimates of the population of Constantinople, 
Cairo, Pekin, Moscow, and-Pet ersburgh, as commonly given in our geographi- 
cal books. 198—200 



LETTER XVIL 

Political state of the Roman empire, from the death of Constantine to its final sub- 
version by tlve nortbein nations ; remaiks on the death of Julian ; admission 
of the Goths into the empire by Valens : consequences of that step : defeat and 
tragical death of Valens : reign of Theodosius : final division of the empire , 
J onseqpenres of that division : irruption of the nortliern nations : sack of Rome 
by x\+ - "ie : sanguinary reign of Attilla : total subversion of the western em- 
pire: investigation of the causes which brought about the subversion of the 
empire ; view of the state of the northern nations ; of the means whereby the 
vast population of civilized nations is supported ; these means shewn to be want- 
ing in those which are uncivilized : conjectures on the general state of the em- 
pire, and on that of the imperial city, previous to its final overthrow. 



CONTENTS. 1^ 



LETTER XVIII. 

Slate of religion after the death of Constantine : Arianism triumphant at Con- 
stantinople, and in most parts of the east, until the reign of Theodosius : tri- 
umph of the orthodox party : general council of Constantinople : Gregory Na^ 
zianzen, John Crysostome : suppression of Arianism in the Roman empire : to- 
tal abolition of Paganism by Theodosius : Arianism the religion of the Goths 
at that period : division of the Christian world into two great parties, the Or- 
thodox and the Arians.— Origin of monastic institutions ; their advantages and 
disadvantages considered in a religious and political point of view ; probability 
of their approaching abolition in all countries ; good effects of them in th? 
gothic ages. 212 — 221 



LETTER XIX. 

State of Europe after the subversion of the empire : origin of the French monay- 
chy : establishment of the Saxons in Britain j Gothic kingdom of Italy ; con- 
quest of Italy by Bellisarius and Narses ; reign of Justinian ; his prosperity ; his 
character j comparison of his fortune with that of many others of the most pros- 
perous princes j his superiority of good fortune above that of any other : char- 
acters of Bellisarius and Narses : state of the eastern empire in the reign of 
Justinian^— State of the eastern empire after the death of Justinian: destruc- 
tive war between that empire and Persia ; remarkable events of that war ; gen- 
eral aspect of the world at that period. — Origin of Mahometanism : policy of 
Mahomet : plan and principles of Mahomet's systems ; extraordinary success of 
Alahomet and his successors, in consequence of the two empires of Constantino- 
ple and Persia being exhausted and debilitated by their mutual efforts against 
each other ; remarks on the destruction of the Alexandrian library : conquests of 
Mahometan Caliphs ; their military successes more wonderful than those df 
Alexander ; investigation of the causes to which those successes are to be ascrib- 
ed. — Political system of the empire of the Caliphs : some conjectures on the set- 
tlements of the Arabs, in the peninsula of India aod the oriental islands, 

221—24,© 



LETTER XX. 

§fcetchof the genius and manners of the Arabs or Saracens; progress of science 
and literature under the Caliphate ; striking difference between their litera- 
ture and scientific pursuits and those of the Greeks and Romans : commerce of 
those ages. — General aspect of the world j of Europe ; of the eastern empire j 
of the Caliphate j wars between the two latter j invention of the Greek fire j 



XX CONTENTS. 



its effects. — State of the christian church : conversion of the Tyrian nations : in- 
troduction of images into churches : causes to which their introduction may be 
ascribed : fatal consequences resulting from that circumstance : rupture be- 
between tlie Greek and Latin churches on that subject : second council of Con- 
stantinople : second council of Nice. — View of Europe during the above men- 
tioned period : elevation of Pepin and Charlemagne : establishment of the 
western or German empire : efforts of Charlemagne for the restoration of 
learning. — Dismemberment of the empire of Charlemagne : rapid growth of the 
feudal system ; remarks on that system : origin of the Germanic constitution. — 
Dismemberment of the Caliphate : state of the eastern empire : origin and 
frequency of pilgrimages to Jerusalem : origin of the crusades : general view of 
those religious wars : conquest of Jerusalem : establishment and overthrow of 
the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem : capture of Constantinople, and subversion 
of that empire by the French and Venetian crusaders ; immense booty : estab- 
lishment of the Latin empire of Constantinople, and of the Greek empire of 
Nice : recovery of Constantinople by the Greeks, and subversion of the Latin 
empire. — Effects of the crusades : gradual abolition of the feudal system : 
general remarks. — Exorbitant elevation of the church ; of the Papal see : ani- 
mosity between the Greek and Latin churches ; attempts for their reconcilia- 
tion : causes of the animosity between the two churches investigated. — Great 
schism of the Latin church : enquiry into the causes of the extraordinary eleva- 
tion of the church, and of the Papal power. — State of Europe after the crusades ; 
state of the eastern empire, and of Byzantine learning : first historical intelli- 
gence of the Russian empire : revival of learning, and of the arts in Europe : 
state of the city of Constantinople ; of London ; and other European capitals : 
imperial palace of Constantineple.— Conquests of the Tartars under Zengis 
Khan and his successors, and under Tamerlane : declining state of the empire 
of Constantinople : capture of that city by the Turks. — Effects of the capture 
of Constantinople on European literature : introduction of the study of the 
Greek language into Europe. 240 — 275 



LETTER XXI. 

Rapid progress of literature and the arts in Europe ; invention of printing ; incal- 
culable benefits arising from that discovery : rapid improvement of commerce : 
voyages of discovery made by the Portuguese ; discovery of the passage to India 
by the Portuguese ; state of the India trade previous to that event : discovery 
of America : conquest of Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards : general remarks. 
— Origin of the negro slave trade ; salutary effects of the establishment of 
Christianity,— On the system of slavery among the Romans : gradual disap- 
pe^ance of slavery in Europe j gradual ameiioration of the condition of 



CONTENTS. XXI 

negro slavery ; probabiHty of its future abolition : remarks on the revolt of 
St. Domingo. 276^299 

LETTER XXII. 

Important consequences of the discovery of America: introduction of new aTtf- 
cles of luxury.— Influx of gold and silver from America into Europe, and its 
effects on the commercial and social system ; low value of European property 
prior to the discovery of the new continent.— General observations on the cir- 
culation of gold and silver in different ages and countries ; investigation of some 
curious and interesting questions arising from that subject.— Effects of the dis- 
covery of America in regard to the extension of Christianity.— Settlements made 
by the Portuguese in the east, under the celebrated General D' Albuquerque ^ 
vast commercial empire of the Portuguese ; its rise and fall.— Reformation of 
religion ; its causes, progress, and effects : inconsistency of religious perseci>> 
tion with reason and Christian charity j happy prevalence of the spirit of re- 
ligious liberty. 300-.3i.7 



LETTER XXIII. 

General view of the progress of human improvements in modern times : re-- 
marks on the consequences of the invention of gun-powder : cursorj^ view of the 
leading transactions of modern times : aggrandizement of the house of Austria : 
its depression : revolt of the Low countries : establishment of the Batavian re- 
public : Spanish Armada : aggrandisement of France under Louis XIV ; civil- 
ization and aggrandisement of Russia.— Revolt of America : establishment of 
the American republic : remarks on the remote, but certain consequences of 
that event : changes which tliose consequences must produce on the commercial 
affairs of the old continent. — Observations on the rapid, extraordinary increase 
of the commerce and naval power of Great Britain : on the French revolution, 
and the war which ensued : extraordinary exertions of France and Great Bri- 
tain : different opinions concerning the propriety of that war examined : view 
of the consequences which might probably have ensued, if Britain had preserved 
a neutrality : difficult situation of the British ministry at that period : inconsi- 
derateness of those who presume to judge the conduct of their rulers, without 
knowing the motives of their conduct .—Remarks on the national debt, andoQ 
taxation ; taxation a subject little understood j the effects of it not such as they 
are generally supposed : examioation of the question, how far the national debt 
and high taxes tend to impoverish a nation : reciprocal effects of national 
wealth and high taxes, on each other, and on society : high taxes a Beces?ay3r 



xxir CONTENTS. 



consequence of great national wealth : exemplification of the subject in a ct)ra-, 
parison between Great Britain and Russia : British subjects better able to 
pay their taxes than those of any other country : influence of taxes on manu- 
factures. — Remarks on the consequences and tendency of war : advantages of 
the funding system : observations on the general diffusion of opulence and luxury 
in modern times : enquiry into the nature and consequences of what is called lux- 
ury. — Observations on the state of the nations of Asia and Africa : investiga- 
tions of the causes why some nations have so far excelled others in scientific and 
literary improvements, and why many are still in a savage state : particular re- 
marks on the Hindoos and Chinese, in regard to these important particulars : a 
general enquiry whether the difference we perceive in the state of the human 
mind in different parts of the world, proceeds from an essential differe nee in the 
species. 317—342 



m 



LETTERS ON HISTORY. 



LETTER I. 



SIR, 



J.N compliance with your request, I take the liberty of lay- 
ing before you a few remarks on the use and importance 
of an acquaintance with history, accompanied with some re- 
flections on the manner in which it ought to be read, so as to 
render it an instructive and entertaining fund of general in- 
formation. 

The bent of your genius seems to lead you to the study of 
history. You wish to acquire a general knowledge of man- 
kind, and historical reading is the only effectual means of ob- 
taining it. In order to render you such assistance as the me- 
diocrity of my abilities enables me, I here present you with 
some reflections and observations on the causes and consequen- 
ces of the most remarkable events in the history of the world ; 
with an attempt to delineate the general condition of man- 
kind, in each remarkable period. 

Curiosity is inherent in man ; and, in some measure, accom- 
panies every degree of the human understanding, and every 
modification of the mind. From the philosopher to the pea- 
sant, scarcely anyone is found who is not desirous of infor- 
mation on one subject or another ; but this cuiiosity is di- 
rected to different objects, in different minds, in proportion 
to their degrees of elevation, or the extent of their pre- 
vious improvements. That great Colossus of literature and 
moral philosophy. Dr. Johnson, says, "Curiosity is one 
of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vi- 
goi^-ds intellect." (Ramb. Vol. 2. p. 267 ;) and again, 
/vol. 3. p. 252) " Cmiosity is, in great and generous minds, 

C 



26 LETTERS Let. L 

the first posilion and the last ; and, perhaps, always pre- 
dominates in proportion to the strength of the mental facul- 
ties." These are the encomiums which that great obser- 
ver of (he human mind bestows on this passion ; but with 
all deference to so respectable an authority, the praise is, 
perhaps, rather due to the direction it takes, than to the 
passion itself; for curiosity may be directed to the most in- 
significant as well as the most important objects. The un- 
cultivated peasant confines his enquiries to the affaiis of his 
own parish, while the man of a more improved understanding, 
and more extensive views, directs his attention to the af- 
fairs of the world at large, and is desirous of information 
relative to subjects which interest mankind in general ; the 
schemes of politicians, the stratagems of war, the fluctua- 
tions of commerce, and the progress of arts, sciences, or 
literature. This active curiosify of man may be gratified 
in many different ways ; but no gratification can ever satisfy 
it. The traveller, who goes to view a strange country, on 
ascending every eminence, amuses his mind in the expecta- 
tion of the prospect he shall enjoy from the summit ; but on 
gaining his point, his curiosity is so far from being extin- 
guished by gratification, that it operates with redoubled 
force, and excites his desires to contemplate the prospects 
which lie beyond his view ; and which, he expects, will 
yet diversify the scene, and amuse him in his farther pro- 
gress. In like manner, the man of a cultivated understanding, 
while lie investigates the wonders of art, or the phenomena of 
nature, finds his curiosity continually excited by new ob- 
jects ; and the village gossip, who turns her thoughts to 
iioilring farther than the doiiiestic concerns of her neighbours, 
finds tier curiosity as strongly and incessantly excited by 
the whispers of scandal, and the trifling concerns of the 
neii.hbonrhood, as does the philosopher who directs his at- 
tention to the most important and interesting phenomena of 
the physical, moral, or intellectual world. 

Since then curiosity is a passion inherent in the human 
mind, in every situations from the gilded palace to the mud- 
walled cottage, and operates with incessant activity upon 
every degree of the human understanding, it is an object of 
great utiHty and importance, in tiie right ordering of the 
mind, to direct the operation of so active a quality to such 
suljects of enquiry as may be conducive to real improve- 



Let. I. ON HISTORY. 27 

ment, and lead us to the knowledge of mankind, that vast 
society, of which every individual is a member. To ac- 
quire this knowledge, we must have recourse to reading. 
The mind is nourished, improved, and carried forward to 
the perfection of its nature, by reading and instruction. The 
human understanding is a blank, which may be filled up 
with various kinds of matter ; and whatever degree of genius 
a man may naturally possess, he must be indebted to read- 
ing and reflection for his subsequent improvement. For 
v/ant of this, many Platos, Aristotles, and Ciceros, many 
Lockes and Newtons, are following the plough. 

Reading and Conversation are the two great vehicles of 
information ; but unless the former be cultivated, the lalter 
will be uninstructive. The man who has not ijnproved his 
mind by reading, will not be able to instruct in conversation, 
or to derive much instruction by that channel. It has been 
often, and justly remarked, that reading ale je is not sutR- 
cient to give a complete knowledge of mankind. In alio w= 
ingthe justness of this observation, we must, fiowever, con- 
sider that reading is the basis of all intellectual acquirements, 
and instructs us in the theory, as the incidents of real life 
and conversation with man teach us the practical part of 
what is called the knowledge of the world, or of mankind. 

In order to attain this kind of knowledge, history is 
more rec[uisite than any other kind of reading, and beyond 
comparison more effectually conducive to that end. Books 
are composed to suit the capacities and inclinations of every 
description of readers ; but we may, without hesitation, 
give the preference to historical, as a vehicle of general in- 
formation, when the term is understooel in the full extent of 
its signification ; for, as Cicero says, our education begins 
at the cradle, and ends only at the grave, comprehending the 
various kinds of information, which the mind imbibes through 
life, by all the means of acquiring knowledge ; so we may 
include, under the general denomination of history, every 
kind of knowledge we receive relative to matter of fact : and 
facts are the only means we possess of investigating the 
motives of human conduct, and of acquiring a knowledge of 
mankind. 

Poetry is adapted to amuse the fancy, to exalt the imagi- 
nation, and to move the passions, rather than to inform the 
understanding. The poet creates, in his own mind, and 



28 LETTERS Let. L 

endeavours to form in the minds of his readers, an ideal 
world, often very different from the real world. His cha- 
racters and descriptions are fictitious. And romance, like 
poetry, is only an eifusion of the imagination. It paints, in 
glowing colours, the performances, the sufferings, or the 
successes of imaginary heroes. History, on the contrary, 
relates the actions of men who have really existed, shews 
what they have sitiFsred, and what they have done. Ro- 
mance describes men such as they might, or ought to have 
been : History represents them such as they really are, or 
have been. The former, like poetry, paints from fancy : 
the latter draws from nature. 

History is the exhibition of man, the display of human 
life, and the foundation of general knowledge. It expands 
"he ideas, enlarges the mind, and eradicates those narrow 
and illiberal prejudices which dim and corrupt the under- 
standing. By devek'ping the causes which influence and 
direct ike opinions and conduct of men, in different ages, in 
different conntries, in different situations of life, and under 
different political and religious establishments, it tends to 
inspire liberality of sentiiiient with a spirit of toleration and 
universal benevolence. 

While we contemplate the various phenomena of the 
moral world, and the infinitely diversified and complicated 
scenes of hmnan action, history exhibits, in successive or- 
der, as in a moving picture, all the generations of men. It 
displays the effects of political and religious systems, on na- 
tions and on individuals, and shews the rise and fall of em- 
pires, kingdoms, and states, with the causes of their pros- 
perity and decline. In perusing the history of nations, we 
have an opportunity of investigating the circumstances 
which gave rise to their existence, procured their aggran- 
dizement, precipitated them from their elevation, or effect* 
ed their final subversion. Unhappily the annals of every 
country develope such a tissue of fraud and violence, such 
a series of wars, battles, treasons, and stratagems, that some 
have denominated history a catalogue of the crimes and mis- 
eries of mankind. These things, however, are not unwor- 
thy of attention, as they shew in what manner the human 
passions operate in different situations and circumstances of 
life, and the consequences of their operation, the extreme 
instability of all sublunary things, and the uncertain nature 



Let. I. ON HISTORY. 29 

of all human expectation ; but they are far from constitut- 
ing the most pleasing or valuable part of historical informa- 
tion. The most rational entertainment, as well as the most 
solid instruction, afforded by the study of history, arises 
from the opportunity it gives of contemplating the gradual 
improvement of the human mind, the origin, progress, and 
influence of arts and sciences, literature and commerce, of 
systems and opinions, the general state of mankind in differ- 
ent ages, and in different countries, and the progressive ad- 
vancement of man, from a savage life in woods and wilder- 
nesses, to the highest pitch of learning and civilization, dis- 
played in cities, colleges, courts, and senates. These are 
subjects w^hich furnish an inexhaustible fund of rational en- 
tertainment and interesting information to an enquiring and 
philosophical mind ; and, on this account, every reader of 
history ought, in a particular manner, to remark those im- 
portant events which form an epoch in human affair, which 
operate a lasting change in ihe condition of mankind, and 
from which a new order of things appears to hav e originat- 
ed. These important and interesting events ought to be ob- 
served with a penetrating eye, and their causes and conse- 
quences examined with accurate investigation. By study- 
hig history in this manner, a wide field will open itself to our 
observation. We shall see how men, stimulated by neces- 
sity, first invented the arts most necessary to their comfort 
and well being ; how, from the arts of necessity they advanc- 
ed to those of convenience, and gradually proceeded to ihe 
embellishments of luxury ; advancing, by progiessive de- 
grees of refinement, from the fig-leaf apron to the purple 
robe and embroidered cloak. A penetrating mind will dis- 
cover the effects which those arts of necessity, conveni- 
ency, and luxury, have produced on the condition of the 
human species, by giving rise to commerce, and to all that 
endless variety of employments which are so closely connect- 
ed as to be essentially and reciprocally necessary to each 
other ; and which contribute not a little to cement the fa- 
bric of civil society, by rendering men mutually dependent 
on one another. We shall observe,^ that men, as soon as 
they began to settle and multiply, discovered the necessity. 
of uniting in societies, of ascertaining the divisions, and se- 
curing the possession of property; of establishing a regular stib- 
©fdination in society_, of restraining the operation of inoid> 



30 LETTERS Let. IL 

nate desires by salutary laws, and of submitting themselves 
to a regular form of government ; and we shall see how those 
governments, establisjied for the genwal good, soon degene- 
rated into tyrannj ; and how, by continual encroachments, 
wars and conquests, one swallowing up another, numbers of 
them being united, formed powerful and extensive empires. 

If historians, especially those of ancient times, had given 
to those interesting particulars all the attention they might 
have done, instead of filling their volumes with little else than 
narratives of wars, battles, sieges, assassinations, usurpa- 
tions, and massacres, we might have had a far more accu- 
rate and interesting history of the human mind than we can 
at present boast of, or hope ever to collect ; but unfortunate- 
ly the ancient historians have neglected to investigate those 
important subjects, while they have detailed the annals of 
slaughter and desolation with the minutest accuracy ; as if 
they thought scenes of murder and bloodshed, the only sub- 
jects worthy the attention of mankind, and the only things 
that could give pleasure to their readers. If they had di- 
versified their blood-stained pages with colours of a milder 
hue, with curious dslineotions of commercial, scientific, and 
literary improvements, hi;story would be far more instruc- 
Hye, more interesting, and more delightful. 

I am, Sir, yours, Sec. 
J. B. 



LETTER IL 



SIR, 



YOU know it has been observed by many good judges of 
human nature, and even asserted by some who were qualifi- 
ed to speak experimentally on the subject, that the reading 
of history has a powerful tendency to excite martial ideas, and 
to determine youthful and inexperienced minds to a military 
life. It is related by some historians, that when the Goths 
had been converted to Christianity, and had the sacred 
scriptures translated into their language, it was thought advi- 
sable to omit, in that translation, the books of the Kings and 
the Chroniciess on account of the frequent relatic^as of war 



Let. II. ON HISTORY. 31 

and slaughter, lest the perusal of such narratives should stim- 
ulate their warlike and savage minds to deeds of violence, to 
which they were naturally so inclined ; and lest, by a fatal 
mistake, they should think that war, conquest, and rapine, 
were sanctioned by the religion they had embraced. If this 
be true, it clearly shews the opinion which the enlightened 
men of that age had of the influence which narratives of mil- 
itary achievements have on ignorant and untutored minds. 
This influence, however, is founded not solely on the plan 
of narration which historians have so generally adopted ; but 
is, in a great measure, derived from the misconception of 
readers, or their want of reflection. 

The minds of youth may, indeed, easily be misled by 
that indiscriminate and unqualified praise too often given to 
those whose military talents have proved successful in the 
field; even sometimes when those talents, or those succes- 
ses, have been employed to enable them to usurp thrones to 
which they had no title, or to extend their conquests over 
countries where they could claim no right of sovereignty. 
But the reader must consider himself accountable for his own 
error, if he suffer himself to imbibe romantic ideas, or form 
erroneous conclusions, for want of making just and appro- 
priate reflections on the actions and events of human life and 
their consequences. A little reflection would not only give 
him a clear view of the crimes of many of the great charac- 
ters of history, but also convince him of the extreme uncer- 
tainty of military honours. 

We must allow, in its fullest extent, the intrinsic value 
and indisputable respectability of military talents, when 
rightly employed : it is the abuse alone of them that is con- 
demnable. The military station is, and ought to be honora- 
ble : but the necessity of its existence is a moral evil ; and 
to delight in war, is criminal. True courage consists in re- 
sisting misfortune or aggressions as much and as long as pos- 
sible ; and if further resistance be found impossible, in bear- 
ing adversity with a noble magnanimity, and suffering with a 
steady and unshaken fortitude ; but an inclination to inflict 
evil on others is not a characteristic of true courage, but of 
savage ferocity. We cannot too highly honor those, who, 
when called out to the defence of their country, distinguish 
themselves by their courage and conduct in ihe field. Mili- 
tary skill, and undamited presence of mind^ amidst the hor- 



32 LETTERS Let. IL 

rors and dangers of war, united with an invariable love of 
peace, characterize the true hero ; while a sanguinary de- 
light in war and bloodshed is the unequivocal mark of a bar- 
barian, and consistent onlj with the character of an Attilla, 
a Bajazet, or a Tamerlane. 

If those who delight to peruse the history of military a- 
chievements, understood, or would consider the nature of 
war, they would perceive upon what an infinite variety of 
unforeseen and seemingly trivial accidents the success of a 
campaign, or a military expedition depends ; and discover 
that the combined exertions of a multitude of subordinate 
warriors, from the chief of a division, to the private soldier, 
must contribute to the success of the action, and the glory of 
the commander. 

If we make a just estimation of human actions, we shall 
find that the greatest part of the heroes of history merited 
the name of robbers and murderers, rather than the title 
of conquerors ; but the folly of mankind too often loads, with 
pompous applause, those characters which are worthy of 
their detestation, and, instead of holding any place in the re- 
membrance of posterity, should 

" Rest forgot with mighty tyrants gone, 

" Their statues mouldered, and their names unknown." 

We shrink with horror at the idea of the human sacrifices 
offered by the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, and some 
other nations of antiquity ; by the Mexicans, not above three 
centuries ago ; and even at this day by several nations dis- 
persed over the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and recently 
discovered by our modern circumnavigators ; and we cannot 
but look with a mixture of pity, contempt, and abhorrence, 
on the people who offer those horrid oblations. By what 
strange delusion then does it happen, that when we see a 
man, on the altar of whose ambition and avarice more hu- 
man victims have been immolated, perhaps, in one day, than 
any of the above-mentioned nations sacrifice in half a centu- 
ry ; by what strange delusion, I say, does it happen, that we 
can willingly fall down and worship the blood-besmeared 
idol ? If, indeed, the Hero had, by the prowess of his sin- 
gle arm, hewn down the ranks of the enemy and laid his 
thousands and his tens of thousands in the dust, we might, 
perhaps, revere him as a superior, although a malevolent be- 



Let. II. ON HISTORY. 33 

ing, and through the terror of his name fall down before the 
great destroyer. But, alas ! we see in the mighty conqueror 
no more than a man, weak and infirm like ourselves, who, in 
personal strength and courage, is perhaps inferior to several 
private soldiers in the ranks of his own and the enemies ar- 
mies, and possesses no natural endowment of body or mind, 
by which he could, in equal circumstances, distinguish him- 
self above many individuals among the unnoticed multitude 
which follows his standard. 

If the writers of history have dazzled the eyes of posteri- 
ty, by painting in brilliant colours the achievements of the 
celebrated destroyers of mankind, their readers often mislead 
themselves by not reflecting on the concomitant circumstan- 
ces of actions and events. In reading the exploits of an 
Alexander, a Scipio, a Hannibal, or a Caesar, or of other 
more modern warriors, we follow the chief with an attentive 
eye, we admire his martial abilities, and feel ourselves inter- 
ested in his fate, without so much as bestowing a thought on 
the nameless multitude of vulgar warriors fsilling by his side, 
or once reflecting on the numerous victims which are sacri- 
ficed, before the glittering idol is placed on the altar of fame. 
If every one, whose mind is fired with military enthusiasm, 
could promise himself the attainment of all the fame and 
glory he could desire, ambition would admit of some excuse ; 
but those who wish to obtain a name by the desolation of the 
world, and the destruction of their fellow-creatures, would 
do well to consider, that glory and fame cannot be the portion 
of all ; and that in the Roman legions there was but one Cae- 
sar, and only one Alexander in the army which conquered 
Persia. Of all the subordinate officers who served under 
these and other celebrated conquerors, how few are enroll- 
ed in the annals of military glory ! How few of their names 
have been transmitted to posterity! Although, without 
doubt, many of those secondary heroes were equal both in 
skill and courage to the commander in chief. The comman- 
ders of detachments and divisions, although the success of 
the general plan of operations depends, in a principal de- 
gree, upon their abihties, seldom are fortunate enough to 
have their names noticed by posterity, while that of the 
general stands high in the annals of the age. The eyes of 
mankind are always fixed on the commander in chief. Al- 
though Caesar, in his commentaries, is not backward in ac- 



34 LETTERS Let. IL 

knowledging the merit, and relating the actions of his offi- 
cers, we know very little of their characters or their abilities. 
Much of the perils and fatigues of the Gallic war was theirs ; 
the glory of the conquest is all his own. The great com- 
manders, who served under Alexander, although they were 
men of consummate military abilities, soldiers of approved 
skill and courage, trained to arms ander the warlike banners, 
and instructed by the lessons of his father Philip, would 
scarcely have been heard of by posterity, had they not seiz- 
ed on, and divided among themselves, the dominions of their 
victorious master, exterminated his family, brought each 
other's grey hairs in blood to the grave, and rendered them- 
selves still more- conspicuous by their crimes than ^Jy their 
political and military abilities. 

If we studied history in a philosophical manner, we 
should, in reading the narrative of a campaign, instead of 
having our attention wholly fixed on the fate of the general, 
contemplate also the hardships undergone by the brave sol- 
diers who compose his army, and to whose valour and ex- 
ertions he stands indebted for his success and his glory. 
If we considered the nameless and numberless multitudes of 
warriors who fall, not only by the sword, but by sickness, 
famine, and fatigue, the inseparable concomitants of war, 
and sink into the grave undistinguished and unknown, we 
should be enabled to make a more exact estimate of the hor- 
rors of war, and should easily and clearly perceive, that 
those brilliant exploits which shine with such a dazzling lus- 
tre in the page of history, although they may be no more 
than amusing comedies to those who read or hear of them at 
a distance, are real tragedies to a very great number of the 
actors who are concerned in them, as well as to thousands 
of others, who are involved in their consequences. 

If history were studied as it ought, the most tragical rela- 
tions which disfigure its ensanguined pages might be made 
conducive to our instruction, and subservient to our rational 
amusement. If we did but reflect on the tears of the wid- 
ows and orphans, and imagine ourselves to hear the groans 
of the wounded and dying ; if we represented to ourselves 
the splendid and warlike appearance of an army, at its first 
taking the field, contrasted with the distressful spectacle of 
its shattered remains, after a hard fought battle, or a bloody 
campaign, we should be thunderstruck at the reflection, and 



Let. III. ON HISTORY. 35 

contemplate with horror the dreadful effects of the human 
passions. A mind well organized, would, from such con- 
siderations, derive both instruction and entertainment; an 
entertainment tragical indeed ; but which, by exciting emo- 
tions of pity, gives pleasure to the feehng and compassionate 
mind. 

To derive instruction and pleasure from history, the rea- 
der must examine, reflect, and compare : and must Hkewise 
possess a feeling heart. The man who cannot feel another's 
woe, who cannot be affe'cte J with emotions of pity in con- 
templating the misfortunes of his fellow mortals, who cannot 
place himself in their situation, and consider in what manner 
he should have thought, felt, and acted, in the same circum- 
stances, does not possess a frame of mind adapted to the stu- 
dy of history, such at least as we have it ; for, in the manner 
in which all ancient, and the greatest part of modern history 
is written, almost every page contains a tragedy. 

When you have pondered these reflections in your mind, 
and examined their justness and propriety, I doubt not but 
they will meet with your approbation. In the mean while, a 
more agreeable field of speculation is ready to open itself to 
our view. At present I shall conclude, with assuring you, 
that, with every sentiment of respect and esteem, 

I am, dear Sir, your's, &c, 

J. B, 



LETTER III. 



DEAR SIR, 



A CURIOUS and interesting subject of speculation now 
presents itself to our view, in which a judicious perusal of 
history eminently contributes to develope the nature of the 
human mind, and to rectify our ideas and opinions. 

While the philosopher contemplates the almost endless va- 
riety of pvolitical and religious establishments existing in the 
world, and fhe current opinions of mankind in different ages, 
and in ^lifferent countries, history, in an eminent degree, 
comes to his aid ; and by enlarging his views, and extending 



36 LETTERS Let. III. 

his ideas, extinguishes those illiberal prejudices which narrow 
the mind, which deaden the feelings, and obscure the un- 
derstanding. Error and prejudice have an almost universal 
influence over the minds of men ; and it is onlj in propor- 
tion to the light conveyed to the mind, by general informa- 
tion and extensive views of things, that this influence is weak- 
ened or annihilated. Certain prepossessions take hold of 
our minas, and domineer over our reason, from our infancy, 
from the first dawn of thoughts. They ^re inspired by sys- 
tems and establishments, by received customs, by current 
opinions, and by the conversation and the authority of those 
who are the nearest a,nd dearest to us, and have the greatest 
influence over us. Every nation, every religious sect, eve- 
ry class of society, has prejudices peculiar to itself ; these 
prejudices are strengthened by various circumstances ; they 
acquire a deeper root from the books we read, the country 
we live in, the persons with whom Ave converse, the station 
of life in which we are placed, and a thousand other inci- 
dents. If we should select a certain number of children, of 
capacities as nearly equal as possible, (for a perfect equality 
in this respect, perhaps, does not exist) if we should give 
them all the same education, and place them in^the same 
station of life, whatever trifling difference might be observed 
in their understandings or acquirements owing to the difterent 
degrees of their appHcation and intellectual exertion, or 
other incidental circumstances, we should still find in all of 
them (more or less) the same views, the same prejudices, 
the same current opinions and general ideas. But if, on the 
contrary, they should be differently educated and disposed 
of— if one should be made a soldier — another a sailor— the 
third a husbandman — the fourth a merchant — if another 
should be placed in a monastery and enter into one of the 
religious, orders ©f the church of Rome — another become a 
minister of some protestant church — if another should be 
sent into a Mahometan country, and, after a suitable educa- 
tion, become a Mufti of the mussulman religion—if another 
should be educated among the Bramins of India — and the 
mind of another be formed among the Lamas of Thibettian 
Tartary, or among the disciples of Confucius, or the wor- 
shippersof Foe, in Chinaor Japan, we should then see in their 
ditfevent prejudices, current opinions, and general ideas, the 
full force and influence of external and adventitious circum- 



Let. IIL ON HISTORY. BT 

stances upon the human intellect. If the minds of men 
could be rendered visible, what different pictures would 
those persons, m their maturer years, display! They 
would exhibit, in the most luminous, the most distinct, and 
the most striking point of view, the full power and effect of 
national, political, and religious prejudices upon the human 
mind. These prejudices, diversified by a thousand differ- 
ent shades, some more faintly, others more strongly mark- 
ed, influence, in ^ greater or less degree, almost every in- 
dividual of the human race ; but more especially the vulgar 
and illiterate, the slaves of systems, opinions, and fashions ; 
and their influence is hostile to the improvement of the hu- 
man mind, as well as to true religion and christian charity. 
They foster ignorance, and engender pride, and stron^y 
tend to weaken or destroy that universal philanthropy so 
forcibly inculcated by the great Author of the Christian re- 
ligion. 

Nothing has a greater tendency to eradicate narrow and 
illiberal prejudices than a general acquaintance with those 
circumstances and events, which, at different periods, have 
taken place in the world, and which have, in so decisive a 
manner, determined the condition and opinions of mankind ; 
and this knowledge the judicious perusal of ancient and mo- 
dern history communicates. Hence arise extensive views 
and just ideas, with which 'the spirit of persecution and in- 
tolerance is incompatible. While the bigotfed Protestant 
condemns, perhaps without examination, what he calls the 
absurdities of the church of Rome ; and the bigotted Catho- 
lic anathematizes the Protestant who refuses obedience to 
what the other deems the infallible church ; while the Calvin- 
ist condemns the Arminian, and the Arminian the Caivinist, 
because they happen to tliink differently respecting the mys- 
terious plan of redemption, and of the divine decrees : while 
bigots of every persuasion condemn and persecute one 
another, the enlightened philanthropist, of whatever deno- 
mination he may be, sees in every man a brother ; and re- 
gards the whole collective mass of mankind as one vast fa- 
mily, the children of one common Father. While the bi- 
got breathes nothing but intolerance and persecution against 
those who happen to have opinions different from himself, 
the enlightened and benevolent christian considers the differ- 
ent nations of Diankind as living under different dispensations. 



:38 LETTERS Let. IV. 

and resigns them all into the hands of the divine Being, who 
rules and disposes all things as he thinks fit, and in a man- 
ner which our feeble reason is not able to comprehend. 

Confident that these remarks will meet with your appro- 
bation, and that your sentiments relative to this subject will 
perfectly coincide with mine, 

I am, Sir, your's, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER IV. 



SIK, 

FROM a judicious and methodical study of history more 
advantages will be derived than can readily be enumerated ; 
but to pursue this kind of study, in such a manner as may 
enable us to derive instruction and authentic information 
from it, we x)ught carefully to be on our guard against the 
mistakes as well as the impositions of historians. History is 
a noble and useful, but a very defective branch of literature. 
If we consider with what difficulty we arrive at the truth, in 
regard to affairs which are transacted in our own times, when 
the art of printing, so conducive to the general diffusion of 
knowledge, has opened the channels of information, and ren- 
dered both the communication of truth, and the detection of 
falsehood, more easy and expeditious than in former times, we 
cannot reasonably expect to find accurate accounts of the 
particular circumstances attending transactions and events 
which have taken place in former ages. If it were possible 
that historians could transmit to posterity the secret intrigues 
of courts and cabinets, and explore the true motives of hu- 
man actions, history would be much more valuable, as it 
woiild then display a more exact picture of the human mind, 
and develope more fully the secret causes of great events. 
But it cannot be supposed that they can obtain authentic in- 
formation concerning things which are generally transacted 
with the utmost secrecy ; and therefore, we must guard 
against the impositions of those historians, who, to embellish 
their works, have recourse to imagination, and make con- 
jqpture supply the place of authentic information. Such 



Let. IV. ON HISTORY. 8^ 

writers, not being able to inform us how their personages 
spoke and acted on certain occasions, make them speak and 
act as they, themselves would have spoken and acted in the 
same circumstances. The eloquent orations which appear 
in Livy, Josephus, Sallust, and other ancient historiogra- 
phers, embellish their works, amuse the reader, and display 
to advantage the talents of the writer ; but they are to be con- 
sidered, for the most part, as the speeches of the historian, 
and not of the persons to whom they are attributed. Some 
writers of history have the efFontery to pretend to give us a 
detail of the debates of privy councils, and of the most se- 
cret conversations and cabals of courtiers with as much for- 
mal precision as if they had been cabinet ministers in the 
courts of all the princes of the age concerning which ihey 
write ; and as if nothing had been transacted or determined 
without their privacy ; nor do they scruple to entertain us 
with a circumstantial account of a battle, a siege, or the 
operations of the whole campaign, with as much pretended 
accuracy as if they had taken the field with the army, and 
accompanied every detachment employed on different ser- 
vices during the whole contest. Such narratives ought always 
to be suspected ; generally speaking, they ought to be totally 
disregarded. Mr. Boswell relates, that Dr. Johnson used 
to say, " We talk of history, but let us consider how little 
history, I mean real authentic histery, we have. It is not 
to be questioned but such kings reigned, such battles were 
fought, such cities were taken, and such countries conquer- 
ed, as we find mentioned ; but all the colouring of history 
is mere conjecture." - In this Dr. Johnson is most certainly 
right : almost all the circumstantial details we meet with m 
history ought to be regarded as tlie effusion of the historians 
imagination. Their truiii ought always to be questioned^ 
although perhaps it may not be possible to prove their false 
hood. It is only the outlines of history, the leading and 
important facts, vrhich have been productive of great and 
conspicuous effects, which ought to attract our attentioiij 
excite our reflection, and hold a place in our remembrance. 
This method of studying history, will, indeed, coiftract its 
limits, and bring it within a narrower compass, but will much 
enhance its value by rejecting its errors and superfiuities, 
and selecting the genuine information it affords. In regard 
to historical detaiisy whenever the historian undertake? to 



40 LETTERS Let. IV. 

offer theiii to the perusal of his reader, he ought, at the 
peril of his reputation for veracity, to discover how, or from 
whence, he obtained such accurate information, otherwise 
he must pardon the increduHtj of posterity, if they do not 
implicitly give credit to his bare word. 

As to ingenious and rational conjecture relative to the 
causes, the consequences, and circumstances of transactions 
and events, they are certainly admissible, and ev^en in many 
cpses desirable in history, as they may assist the reflections 
of the reader, by suggesting hints, which, perhaps, might 
not have readily occured to his mind ; but they ought to be 
given only as conjectures, and not as facts. The observa- 
tions and deductions of a sagacious and philosophical histo- 
rian, may exhibit a subject in a more luminous point of view 
than it would have immediately appeared in upon a bare re- 
cital of the fact ; but the reflecting reader must still consider 
his remarks only as conjectures, unless the probabilities be 
so strong as to stamp upon them the mark and value of un- 
ciuestionable authority. However, as it can hardly be ex- 
pected that historians should, at all times, be so scrupulous 
as to describe the means by which they have obtained their 
information ; and as such details would even seem tedious to 
most readers, we ought, when we peruse their works, to ex- 
amine and consider how much of their narratives bear the 
marks of truth ; huw much has the air of probability ; and 
how much ought to be esteemed only as conjectural; and 
always endeavour to discriminate between conjecture and re- 
ality. Many historians have written several centuries after 
the transactions they relate took place, and consequently 
have compiled their works from scattered records and frag- 
ments of other histories, of which they were not able to as^ 
certain the authenticity, or determine the degree of proba- 
bility; they often could neither prove the veracity of the 
original writer, nor examine his opportunities and means of 
acquiring intelligence concerning his subject, nor under what 
influence he composed his works. We know under what 
auspices Voltaire composed some of his historical tracts, and 
BO one can be ignorant, that Josephiis wrote his history of 
the wars of the Jews under Roman influence. Some have 
taken care to give their writings such a cast as they supposed 
would please their patrons, or procure them friends among 
persons of some particular class. Others have been in fear 



Let. IV. ON HISTORY. 41 

of the resentment of men in power ; and others have been 
actuated by the desire of making everj thing redound to 
the honor of their own country, or their own party. The 
accounts we have of the Greek and Roman affairs, it is to 
be observed, were all written by Greeks and Romans ; we 
must, in consequence, suppose some degree of national par- 
tiality in their relations, with this degree of difference, in- 
deed, that the Greeks being divided into a number of inde- 
pendent and hostile states, the constant rivals of each other's 
glory, reputation, and prosperity; and writers being nu- 
merous among them, they were, in some measure, mutual 
checks upon one another, which rendered falsehood more 
liable to detection among them than among the Romans ; 
who, being united in one vast political body, and inspired 
with the strongest national prejudices, had a better opportu- 
nity of composing their history to their own taste, and telling 
their respective tales. However, if the national partiality of 
the Greeks did not tend so directly to one centre, as that of 
the Romans, the vivacity of their imagination, and their na« 
tural propensity to fiction, afforded an ample supply of mat- 
ter for the fabrication of fabulous narrative. Indeed the 
early Grecian histories can hardly be accounted any thing 
more than a tissue of fables. Many of these remarks on 
Greek and Roman history are also applicable, in a qualified 
degree, to the generality of historians of other nations, aod 
of other ages. 

Of all the departments of historical writing, ecclesiaslical 
history would be the most valuable, if we could rely on ii^ 
impartial authenticity ; but by a deplorable misforlune, a/id 
a strange perversion of things, that which ought to be the 
best is by far the worst ; for here, in addition to the misiafor 
mation, and other defects incident to history in general, re- 
ligious prejudices operate in a superlative degree. The an- 
nals of the church have been written almost wholly by ec- 
clesiastics, strongly attached to some theological system, the 
support of which they considered as an indispensable duty, 
and no small step towards their eternal salvation. We can- 
not, therefore, expect to see an authentic and impartial his- 
tory of the Christian Church produced by either Catholic or 
Protestant bigotry. If an impartial author should, at this 
day, undertake to write such an one, the documents he 
must compile it from are so tinctured with prejudice and 

D2 



42 . LETTERS Let. V. 

the spirit of party, that he would soon perceive himself be- 
wildered in the intricate maze of religious contest, and find 
the truth so obscured by the cavils and contradictions of the- 
ological writers, as to present insurmountable obstacles to 
complete the execution of his design. The evil is conse- 
quently now irremediable. It may, however, be alleviated 
by the judgment and penetration of the reader, strictly ob- 
serving this general rule, that in estimating the intrinsic va- 
lue of the works of historians, politicians, and divines, but 
especially the last, we must, in the first place, endeavour to 
discover under what influence of prejudice, passion, or in- 
terest, they sat down to write, and then make proper allow- 
ances for the effects which such influence might justly be 
supposed to produce on their minds. This is the clue which 
must guide us through the labyrinth of contradictory asser- 
tions, jarring opinions, and different representations of the 
same circumstances and actions ; direct our judgment in ap- 
preciating the merit of authors, and determine the credibility 
of their testimony, and the deference due to their opinions. 
Without this exercise of the reasoning faculties, books will 
•ds often mislead as instruct us. In making an estimate of 
the authenticity of historical relations, three principal rules 
are to be observed, the probability or improbability of the 
facts recorded, the nature of the evidence attesting them, 
and in what degree they are corroborated or contradicted by 
Ihe general circumstances of the world in the period of time 
alluded to. On these principles the reader must exercise a 
discretionary power of yielding or suspending his behef ; but 
he ought carefully to avoid the two extremes of scepticism 
and credulity, v/hicli are equally inimical to the improve- 
ment of the human mind. 

I am, Sir, &c. 



LETTER V. 



SIR, 



ANOTHER consideration, of equal and still more evi- 
dent importance, must arise spontaneously in the mind of ev- 
Qvy reader. 



Let. V. ON HISTORY. 43 

An accurate acquaintance with geography and chronology 
is essential to the knowledge of history. These are two 
great luminaries of history, which, without their lights, 
would only be a confused chaos. Without a due attention 
to the circumstances of time and place, no narrative of facts 
would be intelligible, nor could the causes and consequences 
of events be investigated. 

Geography is an instructive science, and the study of it 
peculiarly delightful ; but, like history, it is subject to a 
multiplicity of errors and defects. These, however, are 
less difficult to correct than the mistakes of history. The 
distance of a thousand miles, like the lapse of a thousand 
years, leaves considerable room for error, and gives great 
opportunity of imposing on the credulity of readers by ficti^ 
tious descriptions ; but these errors, or impositions, of geo- 
graphical writers, are liable to be remarked and corrected by 
each subsequent traveller ; and this consideration is sufficient 
ta deter any writer, who pays the least regard to his reputa- 
tion, from indulging in falsehood. 

In regard to the correction of errors, as well as to the sup- 
ply of defects, a remarkable and peculiar circumstance dis- 
criminates between tlie works of geographers and those of 
historians. Geography always lies open to improvement 
and correction, while the transactions and events of history, 
being past and gone, sink every day more and more into ob- 
security. The truth of geographical description may be sat- 
isfactorily ascertained, or its falsehood detected, by subse- 
quent enquiry ; but historicalfacts no longer exist, except in 
the records of the times and the remembrance of posterity. 
Countries may be revisited, but past transactions cannot be 
recalled and again exhibited to our inspection. Geographers 
may sometimes, in order to swell their volumes, or amuse 
their readers, indulge themselves a little in fiction, in their 
descriptions of countries little known and seldom visited ; but 
this cannot be done in regard to countries of general notice, 
without incurring the hazard and danger of immediate de- 
tection ; and all those parts of the world, which have been 
the theatre of the transactions of ancient and modern history, 
are so well known, and have been so often described, that 
no very material error or imposition is to be apprehended in 
that respect. The study of geography is extremely euter- 
taming, and the knowledge of that science is so easy to ac- 



44 ' LETTERS Let. V, 

quire, that ignorance of it is unpardonable in any person who 
makes the least pretensions to literary or scientific attain- 
ments. It is also so superlatively useful, and so universally 
interesting, that every individual of mankind has some con* 
nection with it. 

A celebrated writer has said, that "every son and daugh- 
ter of Adam is more or less concerned with geography.'^ 
It is, indeed, a science so necessary to every person desirous 
of general information relative to the affairs of the world, 
that without a competent knowledge of it no historical relation 
can be well understood ; and, to a person ignorant of geo- 
graphy, even a common newspaper is unintelligible. 

In regard to the chronological part of history, it is far 
more to the purpose to fix in the mind a just arrangement of 
contemporary characters, and contemporary events, or at 
least of such as are nearly so, than to load the memory with 
a dry and burdensome list of dates. By this method a per- 
son may furnish his mind with a regular system of chronolo- 
gy, always ready for application, without troublesome re- 
search or laborious recollection. A person who has read 
history as it ought to be read, will, on calling to mind any 
remarkable character, circumstance, or sera, immediately 
recollect every other conspicuous contemporary character 
and event. If he reflect on any remarkable period in the 
history of any particular nation, the political, religious, and 
civil circumstances, not only of that, but of the surrounding 
nations, will immediately present themselves to his view. 
He will be able, at all times, and on every occasion, to 
place before his eyes a picture of the moral world, and, at 
one comprehensive glance, take a distinct survey of the ex- 
- isting circumstances and general condition of mankind in dif- 
ferent periods of time. In a similar manner, a person who 
has a just and comprehensive knowledge of geography, will 
find it easy to delineate instantaneously in his mind, as on a 
map, the whole known surface of the terraqueous globe, its 
natural and political divisions, and principal subdivisions, the 
seas, rivers, mountains, &c. with which it is diversified, as 
well as the cities of principal note, &c. It will not be amiss 
to observe, that it very much facilitates the acquisition of 
geographical knowledge, to accustom one self to remember 
what places are situated under, or nearly under, the same 
meridians and parallels. This contributes very much to the 



Let. V, ON HISTORY. 45 

methodical arrangement of geographical ideas, and helps to 
fix in the mind a true representation of the earth. 

It may be objected, that such a methodical arrangement 
of historical and geographical knowledge in the mind is a la- 
borious task. The case is exactly the Contrary, as I can as- 
sert from my own experience. The acquisition is perfectly 
easy, and requires only a little method and reflection in pe- 
rusing such books as treat of these subjects. The easy and 
expeditious performance of work, of whatever kind it may be, 
depends in a great measure on going the right way about it. 
When the foundation is well laid, the superstructure is easy 
to raise ; method facihtafes every kind of business, and every 
kind of study ; and, by making it easy, makes it agreeable. 
Whether we study arithmetic or geometry ; whether mathe- 
matical or classical learning be the object of our pursuit, 
whatever we read, whatever science we study, unless we 
read and study methodically, we do little more than accu- 
mulate a confused assemblage of undigested ideas, which can 
never constitute knowledge. We find many persons, who 
have spent much time in reading, but have acquired little 
"knowledge, because they have read without method, and 
without reflection. Such readers commonly forget what they 
have read as soon as the book is laid out of their hands, and 
never fail to blame the weakness of their memory, or the mul- 
tiplicity of their avocations ; but the fault is rather to be at- 
tributed to the want of method than to a defect of memory ; 
for it is certain, that if a person studies any subject method- 
ically, if he contemplates it in every light in which it can 
possibly be exhibited, and considers it with all its combina- 
tions, connections, and dependencies, he acquires such a 
knowledge of it, as no multiplicity or variety of avocations, 
no length of time, or any circumstance, can wholly obliterate, 
excepting the case of a physical defect of memory, or a con- 
stitutional imbecility of mind. It must, indeed, be acknow- 
ledged, that a mutiplicity of pursuits or employments, in con- 
junction with lapse of time and cessation from study, will ef- 
face from the memory a great number of circumstantial minu- 
tiae ; but the general combination of ideas, and the general 
representations of things, still remain ; so that, although a per- 
son may, at the first thought, find himself a little at a loss, yet 
a very small degree of recollection will recal to his mind, 
and retrace in his memory, the obscured and dispersed, but 



46 LETTERS Let. VI. 

not effaced ideas. A well combined and connected train of 
ideas may be compared to a chain, of which, if you draw one 
link after you, all the others will immediately follow. These 
observations are equally applicable to the study of every art 
and science, and equally hold good in regard to every sub- 
ject of human knowledge, and every incident of common life. 
They are exemplified, and their propriety demonstrated, by 
uniform experience. Whatever is once deeply impressed on 
the mind is never totally effaced from the memory. Every 
affair, every transaction, with which we have been perfectly 
acquainted, in connection with all its circumstances, always 
remains in our remembrance ; and, although ever so long un- 
noticed and unthought of, with a little recollection, becomes 
present to the mind, while things which have been little no- 
ticed by us, with which we have been but slightly acquaint- 
ed, and which have consequently made only a slight and 
transient impression, escape the memory, by having left only 
some faint and obscure traces, which are soon worn out, and 
cannot easily be recollected and re-arranged. 

I am, Sir, your's, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER VL 



SIR, 



NOTWITHSTANDING the errors and defects to which 
history is liable, an acquaintance with it is indispensably ne- 
cessary to every person who desires to possess any share of 
general knowledge above the illiterate vulgar. This is so uni- 
versally acknowledged, that there has never been any dis- 
tinguished political or literary character who was unacquaint- 
ed with history, and also with geography, its inseparable con- 
comitant ; so far at least as those sciences were cultivated 
and understood in the age in which he lived ; and at this day, 
in every country where science and literature are known, no 
person, who is designed to make a conspicuous figure in let- 
ters, or in life, is left uninstructed in those sciences, which 
always constitute an essential part of a liberal education. 

The various imperfections of history, many of which pro- 



Let. VI. ON HISTORY. 47 

ceed from causes absolutely unavoidable, depreciate its value, 
without, however, superseding the necessity of an acquaint- 
ance with it. If it be not such as it ought to be, we must stu- 
dy it such as it is. Mature reflection and just reasoning will 
often tend much to remedy its defects, and direct our judg- 
ment in examining motives and actions, in tracing causes and 
eflfects, and in estimating the preponderance of opposite evi- 
dences and varying probabihties. 

History constitutes so essential a part of the Belles Let- 
tres, that no literary acquirements can be complete without 
the knowledge of it. The orator, the poet, the moralist, and 
the divine, make frequent allusions to historical subjects, to 
celebrated transactions, remarkable events or institutions, 
customs or manners, of different ages, and different countries. 
A person, therefore, who is unacquainted with history, can- 
not well undev stand either rhetorical or poetical compositions ; 
or the works of the moral philosopher, or the theologian. 

It is not, however, to be supposed, that it is necessary to 
retain in the memory all that mass of uhinteresting, or unau- 
thenticated, circumstances and conjectural details with which 
historians have swelled their volumes ; the greatest part of 
those imaginary relations, even supposing them indisputably 
true, would hardly be worth a place in the memory. The 
conspicuous outlines of history ; leading facts of unquestion- 
able authenticity, corroborated by evident consequences, and 
the existing circumstances of the world ; great and important 
events, which have had a decided and visible influence on 
the general aspect of human affairs ; distinguished characters, 
who have been principal agents in important transactions ; 
the origin and influence of political, civil, and religious estab- 
lishments ; the general condition of mankind, in different pe- 
riods of time, these are the subjects which claim the reader's 
attention, and ought to occupy a place in his remembrance. 

Distinguished characters and memorable events are a kind 
of historical land-marks, to which causes and consequences 
may be referred, and by which the chronological order of a 
number of subordinate and dependent circumstances may be 
regulated and remembered. 

A general and comprehensive view of the history of the 
human species, delineated from these leading traits and 
marked outlines, would be equally instructive and entertain- 
ing. It would present to the eye of contemplation a picture 



4g LETTERS Let. VIL 

of human affairs, and of the moral aspect of the world in suc- 
cessive pei'iods ; and, by concentrating the most valuable 
parts ©f historical information, prove an useful and conveni- 
ent summai'y, after a person has travelled through the pon- 
derous volumes of ancient and modern history. 

I have conceived a design of this kind, and shall attempt 
to carry it into execution, in the course of future correspon- 
dence. In the mean time, while most respectfully, 

I am, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER VII. 



SIR, 



IN contemplating those great outlines of history, the me- 
morable and important events which have determined the 
condition of mankind, and rendered the aspect of the moral 
and intellectual world such as we see it at this day, we shall 
find ample matter for observation and reflection. In many 
cases we shall be obliged to have recourse to conjecture, 
founded on different degrees of probability, and some of 
those probabilities may be so corroborated, by general ex- 
isting circumstances, as to amount almost to certainty. 

Of the primeval state of mankind we know little from his- 
torical information, and can enlarge our ideas of it only from 
conjecture, founded on the nature of things. It is reasona- 
ble to suppose, that men had long existed before they began 
to write the history of what passed among them. Their 
whole attention would, at first, be engrossed by studying the 
means of supplying their physical wants, and rendering their 
existence, in some degree, comfortable. In that state of 
simple nature they would hardly think of transmitting an ac- 
count of their actions to posterity, nor could they have any 
thing worth recording. Here our knowledge of human na- 
ture, and of human wants, will supply the deficiency of 
history. From the experience of our wants, and of the 
means of supplying them, we may form a conjecture, more 
than probable, that houses, or at leasl huts, would be built 
as a shelter from the inclemency of the weather. Some at- 



Let. VII. ON HISTOHY. 49 

tention would be paid to agriciiUiire, in order to make the 
earth bring forth such productions as were necessary for the 
nourishment of the body: cattle would be tamed and made 
subservient to the will of man. These things would natural- 
ly be attended to ; and the arts most essential to the comfort- 
able existence of the human species, Avould be invented be- 
fore letters were brought into use, and the thoughts of the ' 
mind committed to writing. From all tliese circumstances 
we maj reasonably suppose, that the first rude sketch of 
history would be the traditionary tales delivered from father 
to son, through successive generations ; and these, in fact, 
constitute the basis of the first historical records. Such are 
the fabulous relations of the first historians among the Greeks. 
They had adopted the historical legends of the Egyptian 
priests, who were accustomed to cover their religion and 
their learning with the mystical veil of allegory; and the 
Greeks, in many cases, mistaking their mode of allegorizing 
the early periods of history, have presented us with an ab- 
surd and monstrous tissue of fabulous narrative of kings who 
never reigned, and heroes of celestial descent. Superstition 
being natural to mankind, before their raind is enlightened 
by philosophy, it is no wonder that the first historians stuff- 
ed their works with narratives of the communication of gods 
and demi-gods with mankind, and the frequent interference 
of supernatural agents in human affairs. The lively imagina- 
tion of the early Greek writers, heated with superstition, and 
unrestrained by philosophy, branched out into wild exuber- 
ance, and fabricated the most absurd tales. On this ac- 
count the period of time which elapsed from the establish- 
ment of political and civil society in Greece, to the Trojan 
war, may be justly denominated the fabulous age ; and, in- 
deed, the greater part of what is related concerning that war,, 
has evident marks of fiction stamped upon it : for all the his- 
torical accounts we have of it are originally founded on the 
poetical eifusions of Homer's creative fancy. Strictly 
speaking, there is nothing that can lay claim to- the title of a 
history of Grecian afiaiis before the Peloponnesan war. 
As to the history of the other heatlien nations, they were 
not less fabulous and absurd than those of the Greeks ; and, 
indeed, all we are told of their historic has been transmitted 
to us through the medium of Greek writers, 

E 



oO LETTERS Let. VII. 

When we consider the general state of the world, in the 
earlj ages, in regard to political, commercial, and literary 
communication ; however we may amuse ourselves with pe- 
rusing the accounts transmitted to us of the transactions of 
remote antiquity ; reason tells us, that nothing we read, of 
that kind, can deserve any other name than that of fiction or 
historical romance ; — until the Greeks, those celebrated in- 
ventors, or at least improvers of arts and sciences, whose li- 
terary efforts have been the means of diffusing knowledge 
through the world, had attained to a considerable height of 
opulence and civilization ; and until the arts of necessity be- 
ing brought to a tolerable degree of perfection, those of con- 
veniency, luxury, and elegance, began to flourish among 
them ; a period which cannot be fixed any long time before 
the Peloponnesan war, which took place about four hundred 
and thirty years before Christ. 

This may be fixed as the epoch of the commencement of 
profane history ; as for all that can be learned concerning the 
stafe of mankind, and the events which took place in the 
world before that period, we must have recourse to the sa- 
cred writings of the Jews for ijiformation relative to those 
particulars. ^Fliis consideration naturally leads us to turn 
om' attention to those records of the Jewish nation, always 
esteemed sacred by that people, and of which the authenti- 
city has been acknowledged by the most considerable and 
the most enlightened part of mankind. It would, indeed, 
be unpardonable, in a survey of ancient history, not to at- 
tejiipt to make a just estim.alion of the value of those celebrat- 
ed records which have so long attracted the veneration of 
christians, and excited the ridicole of infidels. 

The Jewish annals are by far the most ancient of any that 
have come down to us ; and, without drawing any advan- 
tage from tlieif djvjiie authority, the most intrinsically ra- 
tio/ial and probiible. They likewise contain a series of trans- 
actions aiid ev*'??«f3 equally curious and interesting.- In these 
writings we mi: I I he only rauonal account of the creation of 
the world, and ihe heginoing of things ; of the dispersion of 
ma?ildnd, aod the origin of ancient: nations : and strict impar- 
tiali;-^ Lii::-; 'C:::r;:\;::;. iliut liie relation of these events, inde- 
peiidejrr ol the high authority by which it is sanctioned, 
bears intr'tiS^ca! m^rVs of probability. The scriptural ac- 
coi^jit of trt . ; .■[].;ii Is incomparably more rational than the 



Let. VII. ON HISTORY. 51 

absurd cosmogonies of the Greeks ; and when annalized, ap 
pears not only probable, but strictly philosopkical. The 
scriptural account of the creation represents the separation 
of these luminous and volatile parts of matter which consti- 
tute light, from those v^liich are more heavj and opaque, as 
the first work of creation ; or, in other words, the first op- 
eration of nature, after the command of the Supreme and 
Eternal Being had put in motion (he vast chaos of unformed 
matter, floatiiig in the immensity of space; and so it must have 
been, according to every probability of philosophical coniec 
ture. Tlie second period is represented as that in v;hicli 
(he v/aters being separated from the earth, a firmameiit was 
erected, dividing the waters from the waters ; an expressioB,. 
which, to our conception at this time, appears obscure and 
almost unintelligible ; but of which the meaning seems to be, 
that the terrene particles having sunk into solid globes, the 
aqueous particles being lighter, floated on the top, and co- 
vered the whole surface of the earth and other opaqoe bo- 
dies ; and that the waters thus overflowing, the planets w ere 
separated by the intervening expanse of air, called the iinna- 
ment. The third process of creation, was the descent of 
the waters into the vallies, or lowest parts of the earth, and 
planets, w'hereby seas and lands were formed ; and the land, 
being left dry, acquired its vegetative power, and began to 
bring forth its various productions. The fourth period is 
described as that in w-hich the volatile particles of hght were 
formed into compact bodies, constituting the sun and fixed 
stars, which are different suns, enlightening different sys- 
tems. The fifth and sixth periods are distinguislied by the 
creation of animal life ; and last of all, man, the master-piece 
of nature, was formed ; and this could not be until the earth 
had attained to the perfection of its vegetative power, so as 
to produce what wa& necessary for the subsistence of men 
and animals* This hypothesis of natural philosophy, and the 
properties of matter, are precisely such as a philosopher 
might suppose the gradual process of nature to ha^ e been, 
when tlie Almighty Fiat had given to the various parts of 
matter their different properties, and put in motion tjie innu- 
merable atoms which compose the universe, however long or 
short we may suppose the different periods of this process to 
have been. For it is doubted whether those periods were 
natural days, marked by the rotation of the earth upon its 



r 



52 LETTERS ' Let. VIL 

axis ; as, doring the tliree first periods or days, ike light is 
represented onlj as separated from the darkness, or the ki- 
oiiiious Yrom (he opaque particles, and lioating at random in 
the vast expanse ; and the sun, and ether hiiriioous orbs, not 
behig fonr.ed imtil the fourth period, dsy aod night could not, 
before that time, have been discriminated bj the appearing 
and disappeaiog of the celestial orbs. As to what follows, re- 
lating to ilie garden of Edeo, if it be taken as a real narrative 
of lacts, it contains nothing improbable or incredible. Of 
the ion2;evitv of tiie Antediluvians, if we have no collateral 
proofs, no concurrent circumstances, to corroborate the scrip- 
tural account, it is evident that none such can be expected, 
and we have no contradictory evidence to invalidate its an- 
thenticitj ; and it was, undoubtedly, as easy to the Sove- 
reign Disposer of all things, to frame the constitution of the 
iiUFiiaii body to continue nine hundred as only ninety years. 

The book of Genesis, whether or not written by Moses, 
which at least is highly probable^ as it relates almost entirely 
lo things which were done before any written history exist- 
ed, must have been communicated to the author, whoever 
he was, eidier by tradition or revelation ; and if it be sup- 
posed a traditionary account, some slight variety in 
names and dates might creep in, without tending in the least 
to invalidate the general authenticity of the book. Of the 
subsequent writings of Moses, the book of Exodus is partly 
historical and partly legislative; and that of Leviticus whol- 
ly of the latter kind. The book of Numbers is mostly histori- 
cal ; and that of Deuleionomy consists of a repetition of ma- 
ny of the laws promuii^ated in the two former books, w'ith 
some additional ones, intermixed with eloquent exhortations 
to obedience ; but contains little historical matter, except the 
relation of the death of Moses, added by some succeeding 
writer. In all these books, Moses positively declares, that 
the laws and ordinances he gives to the people, are the com- 
mands of the Supreme Being, expressly and miequivocally 
revealed to him ; but, in regard to historical facts, he appeals 
sometimes to the testimony of their own knowledge, and 
sometimes to the evidence of tradition received from their 
fathers. The book of Joshua contains a narrative of the 
conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, and was probably writ- 
ten by Joshua hiruself, or at least by his direction ; but it is 
unknown by whom the book of the Judges was composed ; 



Let. VII. ON HISTORY. 5'6 

most probably by different persons at different times ; as 
it appears to be a collection of detached pieces of history, in 
which the chronological order is not strictly observed, and 
in some places is not easy to adjust. These accounts re* 
late to a period exceedingly tumultuous and troublesome ; a 
period of bai-barism, ignorance, and anarchy; in which 
the Israelites, almost continually harrassed by intestine 
commotions, oppressed by foreign enemies, or employed 
in repelling their aggressions, had little leisure to attend to 
the accuracy of their national annals. When we come to 
the books of Samuel, the prospect begins to grow a little 
clearer. The affairs of the Israelites began, under the admin- 
istration of that judge and prophet, to assume a more settled 
appearance ; and the scriptural historians seems to ha% e 
written in a more connected manner. The books of the 
Kings and Chronicles display an exactness, in regard to 
chronology, and the other essential requisites of history, 
which gives them, in this respect, a superiority over all the 
other records of remote antiquity. The age of each uf the 
Idngs of Judah, at his accession, and the duration of his reign, 
are expressly mentioned, so that not only the whole term of 
each of their lives, but also the whole duration of the Jewish 
monarchy, from the accession of David to the Babylonian 
captivity, may be easily calculated. All the outlines and 
leading facts are so clearly exhibited, and so firmly corrobo- 
rated, by collateral evidence, by the perpetual observance 
cf solemn festivals, instituted in commemoration of important 
events, and by their connection with the contemporary cir- 
cumstances of other nations, (particularly the Egj^ptians and 
Babylonians) that, considered as a history of political occur- 
rences and national events, the Jewish records ha^e a claiiii 
to authenticity, infinitely superior to what can be allowed, in 
that respect, to any other history of the same antiquity. The 
history of the Israelitish nation during the period of its exist- 
ence, at first in one, and then divided into two separate king- 
doms, is simple, clear, connected, and chronologically cohe- 
rent ; and with the exception of a few dates and numbers, 
which might be easily mistaken in transcribing, bears indis- 
putable marks of authenticity, while it exhibits the transac- 
tions of a period in which the Greeks were only just emeig- 
ing from barbarism ; and during which their histories consist 
of nothing butlyinss legends of gods and heroes, and ficlitious 

E2 



M LETTERS LeTc TIL 

tales of sovereigns who never reigned, and of persons who 
never existed. 

It has been remarked, that the Jewish historians frequent- 
ly impute their national calamities to the vices of their mon- 
archs. If, however, we examine the dreadful denunciations 
of the prophets against the nobles, the opulent inhabitants, 
and especially against the priests, we shall find reason to 
conclude, that the calamities sometimes imputed by their his- 
torians to the crimes of their princes, might with equal pro- 
priety have been attributed to the Divine vengeance on the 
sins of the priests and people. The imputation, however, 
is not incompatible with moral equity. It is a position con- 
sistent with reason, and confirmed by experience, that the 
misconduct of rulers is detrimental to the nation at large, 
by the natural operation of natural causes. The same re- 
mark may be made on the denunciations, or rather the predic- 
tions of calamity to the children for the vices of their parents. 
This is the same thing as if v/e should say to a person in af- 
fluent circumstances, whose expeoces are greater than his 
fortune can bear : " You may probably never experience 
want yourself, but you cannot fail of entailing poverty upon 
your posterity." The calamities brought on posterity, by 
the criines and misconduct of their forefathers, are not incon- 
sistent with morahjusliee, as some infidels pretend, but neces- 
sarily result from the invariable connexion between causes 
and consequences, as might be exemplified by innumerable 
instances. Several of the kings of Israel and Judah, as many 
other princes have done, alienated, by their moral or political 
vices, the minds of their subjects, or otherwise brought oh 
such a train of uiifavourabie circumstances, as, in the end, 
proved fatal to their posterity; and it is unnecessary to 
travel far io the walks oi" history, or to extend much the 
sphere of our own observations, to perceive that this has 
been the case with many persons in private as well as in pub- 
lic life. Besides all this, by a figurative expression, the vi- 
ces of the nation may, on some occasions, be called the vices 
of the king, its representative and head ; or this mode of 
speaking may sometimes be used to denote the prevalent 
vices of the reign, and not altogether the personal vices of the 
prince alone. 

I am, &c. 

J. a 



Let. IX LETTER IX. 55 

LETTER IX, 



SIR, 



THE reign of David is illustrious and interesting i It 
shews us, a man raised from an obscure station to the throne 
of Israel, after experiencing a variety of fortune ; and when 
placed in that exalted station, aggrandizing his power by a 
strong military force extending his dominions by conquest, 
and enriching himself and his subjects by the spoils of their 
enemies. It also displays a prospect far more interesting to 
a reader, who delights in contemplating the prosperity of a 
numerous people, rather than in tracing the bloody footsteps 
of a conqueror. It exhibits to our view the establishment of 
a monarchy hitherto tottering and precarious ; the institution 
of civil and religious regulations and ordinances, and the ra- 
pid advancement to tranquillity and opulence of a people but 
just emerged from obscurity and anarch}^. The succeeding 
reign of Solomon presents us with a brilliant view of the king- 
dom of Israel in the zenith of its opulence, felicity and splen- 
dor ; and enjoying all the sw^eets of tranquility, in such a 
manner and for such a length of time, as that nation had never 
before experienced, either since the establishuient of monar- 
chical government, or at any time previous to that period. 
The kingdoai of Israel now stood high in the political scale 
of nations. It gave the law^ to all the lietty kingdoms, be- 
tween the Euphrates and the Levant, called, in scripture, the 
great Sea ; and held the balance betw een the two great mon- 
archies of Egypt and Assyria. ThSH^^hannels of commerce 
were opened^ and their sources explored, in a manner, which 
at that early period, must appear extraordinary. The fleets 
of Israel, under the direction of Tyrian mariners, traded to the 
land of Ophir, which some conjecture to have been the coast of 
India, or some of the Oriental islands; while others place it on 
the eastern coast of Africa ; and by their lucrative voyages 
augmented the wealth of the nation w hich David had alrea- 
dy enriched with the spoils of war. This agreeable and 
brilliant prospect does not, however, long continue. Solo- 
mon, infatuated, it seems, by uninterrupted prosperity, set no 
bounds to his magnificence and luxury, and laid heavy taxes 
on th€ people, in order to support so exorbitant an expendi- 



5Q LETTERS Let. IX. 

ture. These burdensome imposts created disaffectien in the 
minds of his subjects ; and towards the end of his reign, 
gave rise to a dangerous and potent faction, which, on the ac- 
cession of his son, broke out into open rebelhon, and ended 
in the revolt of the ten tribes from their allegiance to the 
house of David. The revolted tribes having elected Jero- 
boam for their king, the monarchy was split into the sepa- 
rate kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The state policy of the 
new king of Israel produced a religious, as well as a political 
separation ; for Jeroboam, apprehending that while the kings 
of Judah held the temple where the sacrifices were offered, 
and whither all the people were obliged, at stated times to re- 
sort, they would always have an ascendancy over the king- 
dom of Israel, unless some measures should be taken to pre- 
vent those frequent visits of his subjects to the metropolis of 
Judaho The priests, the Levites, and all who were concern- 
ed in the ministry of religion, were firmly attached to the 
house of David ; and Jeroboam supposed that they would na- 
turally make use of the ascendency which religion gave them 
over the people, in order to alienate their affection from his 
government, and bring them again to their allegiance to that 
family. Jeroboam, in order to prevent those almost inevitable 
consequences of the continuance of his subjects in religious 
communion with the house of David, and kingdom of Judah, 
sacrificing the interest of religion to his political views, built 
a new temple, instituted a new priesthood, and thus produ- 
ced a schism among the followers of the Mosaical law, which 
was never extinguished. The religion of the ten tribes, soon 
after this separation, deviating more and more from the ori- 
ginal institutions of the law, became, in a little time, a mix- 
ture of Judaism and Pagan idolatry, and such it ever after 
continued. 

After this memorable epoch of the Israelitish history, 
scarcely any thing more is found in the annals of that nation, 
but such transactions and events as are the ordinary subjects 
of political histories. The histories of the kingdoms of Israel 
and Judah, like those of all other ancient nations, presents 
us with little else than a continued scene of uninteresting wars, 
massacres, murders, rebellions, and usurpations ; which last 
were very frequent in the kingdom of Israel, although that of 
Judah adhered, with an unalterable attachment, to the lineal 
descendants of Dayid. The history, m fine, of both nations? 



Let. IX. ON HISTOKY. 57 

from the period of their separation, is little else than an unin- 
teresting catalogue of the crimes and the calamities of a de- 
clining people, till at last we see the total extinction of the 
kingdom of the ten tribes^ who were transported into Assyria, 
and dispersed into different parts of the country, from whence 
they never returned ; and the common people who where 
left in the country, were intermixed with strangers; from 
Avhich mixture of different nations sprung that motley race, 
afterwards known by the name of Samaritans. This event 
happened about A. C. 844. The tottering kingdom of Ju- 
dah still continued to enjoy a precarious existence ; invaded 
at different times by the Babylonians, rendered tributary, 
and at last entirely subjugated; its metropolis and temple 
rased to their very foundations by Nebuchadnezzar, A. C. 
608, and all the principal persons and useful hands transport- 
ed to Babylon. If we consider the barbarous manners of 
the age, and the sanguinary mode of making war then in use, 
it will appear that the king of Babylon acted, in this conquest, 
with as much lenity as could be expected, after the repeated 
provocations he had received from Zedekias, Nebuchad- 
nezzar had placed the crown of Judah upon the head of that 
prince, after deposing his nephew Jechonias. He had not 
imposed upon him any hard conditions. He had not required 
any change in the national religion or laws. He had not 
obliged him to receive a Babylonian garrison into Jerusalem, 
or any of the fortresses of J udah. He had not deprived him 
of the management of the national revenue and expenditure, 
nor of the administration of pubhc affairs. Under the easy 
r.onditions of tribute and alliance, Zedekias had received from 
the hand of the Babylonian monarch a sceptre, which, with- 
out his favour and powerful support, he never would have 
swayed; yet, notwithstanding so signal a favour, he after- 
wards renounced the friendship of that prince, and entering 
into a confederacy with Egypt, the enemy and rival of the 
Babylonian greatness, manifested the most determined and 
rancorous hostility against his great benefactor, from whom he 
had received his crown and kingdom, and to whom he had 
sworn fidelity in the name of the God of Israel ; thus con- 
summating his guilt by adding perjury to treason. It is, 
therefore, no matter of wonder, that an ambitious and power- 
ful conqueror should give the world a terrible example of his' 
vengeance on a perfidious prince, whose conscience oaths 



58 LETTERS Let. IX. 

could not bind ; whose fidelity no favours could engage ; and 
from whom he had received such ungrateful treatment. 

However, notwithstanding the provocations which Nebu- 
chadnezzar had received from the Jewish nation and its king, 
it does not appear that he made the people the object of his 
vengeance. The guiltj monarch was made a sig;nal example 
of Divine and human vengeance, on the detestable crimes of 
perjury and ingratitude ; and the punishment of death was 
immediately inflicted on all the principal oHicers of his court 
and army, who had been the counsellors or abettors of his re- 
volt ; but the guilt of those men being expiated by their 
blood, the remaining part of the inhabitants were treated with 
lenity. The principal citizens, and most skilful artists, of 
every description, were removed to Babylon, where they en- 
joyed considerable privileges; and the husbandmen and 
common people had lands assigned them, which they rented, 
although we are not informed upon what terms, of the Baby- 
lonians. 

Some remarkable events which took place during the cap- 
tivity are related in the book of Daniel ; in particular, the 
erection of the statue of Belus, in the plain of Dura, either in 
the environs, or within the city of Babylon ; and the adven- 
ture of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, in consequence 
of their refusing to worship the idol. Here we may observe, 
that although, perhaps, thousands of Jews then in Babylon 
did not join in this idolatrous worship, it does not appear that 
they were called in question on that account ; and it seems 
that the three men abovementioned being persons of distinc- 
tion, employed by the king, and in his favour, they were sin- 
gled out on that occasion by some intriguing courtiers, and 
accused of disobedience to the king's command, while the 
conduct of others was connived at. Indeed, as the Jews 
were always allowed liberty of conscience in Babylon, and, 
unless in this particular instance, do not appear ever to have 
been compelled to conform to tha idolatrous worship estab- 
lished in that place, there is reason to think that the gene- 
rdlity of the king's edict was the contrivance of a cabal of 
courtiers, who had counselled the king to issue it, in order to 
implicate some individuals who were obnoxious to them. 

The insanity of Nebuchadnezzar is another very remarka- 
ble circ'jmstance, and is related in language so strongly figu- 
rative, that it has perplexed many common readers not con- 



auET. IX. ON HISTORY. 59 

versant with scripture phraseology. There is no ground, 
however, to call the fact in question. It is perhaps a vain 
attempt to endeavour to reconcile the contradictory compu- 
tations of chronologers relative to many occurrences which 
happened in the ages of remote antiquity. Jerusalem was 
taken in the 1 9th year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and the 
term of tjie captivity was 70 years ; but it is not possible to 
ascertain the duration of this reign : and it is equally impossi- 
'ble to discover exactly at what time the books of the scrip- 
ture were collected and arranged : but it is well known that 
it happened soon after the return of the Jews from the capti- 
vity. From these circumstances, therefore it seems prob- 
able, that this extraordinary history was written within 
about fifty years after the thing happened. Nebuchadnezzar 
was the greatest monarch, as well as the most distinguished 
political and military character of the age in which he lived, 
and in every respect the most conspicuous personage that 
had appeared upon the theatre of the world. Some of the 
Jews who returned from the captivity, as well as some of 
the aged inhabitants of Babylon, could, perhaps, when this 
account was written, remember his reign, and the circum- 
stance of his insanity. At least his reign could not fail, at 
that time, to be fresh in the memory of the inhabitants of 
those^ countries. So remarkable a circumstance, in the his- 
tory of so conspicuous and celebrated a character, must 
have been universally known and publicly talked of, both by 
the Jews and the Babylonians. In such circumstances a 
fabrication of tliat nature must have been immediately de- 
tected. 

The sacred historians relate, that Nebuchadnezzar, walk- 
ing in the garden of his palace, and having his thoughts ab- 
sorbed in the contemplation of his own greatness and power, 
and insensible to whom he was indebted for them, his reason 
suddeiily departed from him. This is no physical improba- 
bility. Thousands of similar cases may be found in the annals 
I jof medical experience, and produced from the same cause—- 
pride and vain glory. They then tell us, that from a man he was 
transformed into a beast; a strongfigurative expression, used to 
, signify his deprivation of reason, the distinguishing characteristic 
|of human nature, which discriminates man from the brute crea- 
Ition. By the representation of his hair growing like eagles' 
Heathers, and his nails like birds' ckws^ that deformity of his 



ro LETTERS Let. IX. 

exterior appearance, which must naturally be the consequence 
of so dreadful a state of insanity, is hyperbofically express- 
ed. As to his running wild with the beasts of the field, &c. 
it is probable that the unfortunate maniac spent the greatest 
part of his time in wandering about in the parks and forests 
belonging to the royal palace, though under the inspection 
of persons appointed to take care of him. 

It appears that during the monarch's indisposition, Evil- 
merodach, his son and successor, had governed the 
kingdom in the quality of regent. Nebuchadnezzar, by his 
political and military talents, his extensive conquests and stu* 
pendous works, both in Babylon and the adjacent country, 
had undoubtedly acquired a powerful ascendency over the 
minds of his subjects ; and on his restoration to the posses- 
sion of his intellectual faculties, his regal power was deliver- 
ed to him inviolate. The monarch, on the recovery of hijs 
reason, appears to have made suitable reflections on his 
crimes and sufferings, and to have acquired just ideas of the 
weakness and insufficiency of man, (although ever so highly 
exalted) of the instability of all human power and grandeur, 
and of the absolute subjection of the greatest monarchs to 
the will of that supreme and omnipotent Being, who, ac- 
cording to the irresistible decrees of his providence, disposes 
all things as he pleases. This is the genuine representation 
of the fact related in this remarkable story. 

We come now to that interesting period of the Jewish 
history which is marked by their restoration to their liberty, 
their country, and their national existence, through the fa- 
vor of the Persian monarchs, who, in a most liberal and mu- 
nificent manner, opened the royal treasury, in order to 
give them the pecuniary assistance they stood in need of for 
the rebuilding of the temple and city. In the subjugation 
of the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem, by Nebu- 
chadnezzar, brought into a contrasted point of view with 
their restoration by Cyrus and the succeeding kings of 
Persia, we have a luminous display of the wonderful man- 
ner in which the Divine Providence, by an irresistible con- 
trol, directs and governs all human affairs. Nebuchadnez- 
zar is constantly represented, by the scriptural historians 
and prophets, as the chosen minister of God's vengeance on 
a crimioEil nation ; and Cyrus is also, in the most explicit 
inanner, declared the tHStrument of his clemency to be dis- 



Let. IX. ON HISTORY. 6i 

played in its restoration ; but we are not ^o imagine that 
! any such consideration influenced the political measures of 
' the cabinets of Babylon and Persia. iSl ebuchadnezzar, in 
his conquest of Judea, as in all his other enterpiises, was 
stimulated hy ambition, avarice, and revenge, against a 
prince who had most ungratefully treated him, and thereby 
had given him a plausible pretext for aggrandizing his power, 
by the total subjugation of that country, and lor appropriat- 
ing to himself the wealth of the metropolis and the temple. 
Similar motives, no doubt, actuated Cyrus in the war against 
the Babylonians, and the subversion of their monarchy. 
That prince, as well as his successors, seems to have been 
favorable to the Jewish religion, as the Persians detested the 
image worship of the Babylonians. They might, probably, 
fancy some affinity between that religion and their own, on 
account of the sacred fire kept burning by the Jewish priests 
in the temple, as the Persians esteemed that element a sym- 
bol of the divinity. But it may be conjectured, with a very 
great appearance of probability, that the Persian kings looked 
with a jealous eye on the strength and population of Babylon, 
and the aversion of its inhabitants to the Persian government, 
which afterwards broke out in a dangerous and obstinate re- 
volt, in the reign of Darius Hystaspes ; and the departure of 
so great a number of the Jews, who, after so long a residence, 
were become almost naturalized in Babylon, might be con- 
sidered as one of the most effectual means or weakening and 
bringing gradually to decay that disaffected city, which 
seems always to have been one of the political maxims of the 
Persian court. Thus we see, that alliiough both Nebuchad- 
nezzar and Cyrus were actuated only by their own political 
1 views, yet those views, and the enterprize originating from 
them, were under a direction which they couid not see; and 
thus it is that Divine Providence renders tiie operation of 
human passions subservient to its impeoetrable designs, and 
governs all by an absolute control; legulatifig all mundiioe 
affairs according to the vast and complicated plan of causes 
and effects existing through everlasting ages, in the elernai 
prescience of God, v/iihout infringing the hhei'j or rea^.■a(il- 
ing the free will of man. The whole series of causes and 
effects, the infinitely diversified train of physical and moral 
circumstances, and the continued succession of events, are, 
from all eternity, present to the Divine intellect ; but all. 

F 



62 LETTERS Le i. X. 

events are produced by a train of causes and consequences, 
by a combination of circumstances,, so closely connected, 
that without one another cannot exist. The history of the 
world is nothing less than the history of God's eternal Pro- 
vidence ; and although some of its pages may be beyond 
the reach of our comprehension, it is, nevertheless, our duty 
to study the mysterious and interesting volume. 

I am. Sir, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER X. 



SIR, 



OF all the curious and interesting prospects which liistory 
opens to our view, the progressive advancement of the hu- 
man mind, in the improvement of its faculties, is the most 
agreeable. The destructive exploits of conquerors may daz- 
zle for a moment, but the silent labours of the student and 
the artist, of the architect and the husbandman, which em- 
bellish the earth, and convert it into a terrestrial paradise, 
although they do not shine with so conspicuous a glare, di- 
versify the prospect with milder colours and more beautiful 
shades. The arts and sciences embellish the world, and 
the investigation of their origin and progress would be the 
noblest ornament of history. How great then is the misfor- 
tune, thai the ancient historians have almost entirely over- 
looked so grand and pleasing a subject ; and that all the 
knowledge we can acquire concerning those things, must be 
gleaned from, broken fragments and scattered hints labori- 
ously picked out fiom a multifarious and confused mass of 
nniiJiportant parficulars ! It is, however, the part of every 
reader, to endeavour, as much as possible, to acquire some 
general knowledge of the history of the human mind, and of 
civiiized society. Let us, therefore, cast a glance, and only 
a transient i^lance it can be, over the period already travers- 
ed, and which is, indeed, v^ilhin the limits of the scriptural 
history. 

This period includes the whole space of time from the 
creation initil the subversion of the Babylonian monarchy. 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 63 

During this long succession of ages, a great varictj of politi- 
cal, civil, and religious estabiishmentSj had been formed ; tne 
rudiments of several arts and sciences had been in^ anted ; 
the human mind had, in some countries, been much improved; 
and the earth cultivated and embellished widi large cides and 
stately edifices : of these interesting subjects few particulars 
have been transmitted to us, except such as relate to the 
Jewish laws and institutions, some scattered hints relative to 
ancient commerce, and some excellent specimens of waiting 
in the Prophets and Psalms. In those venerable monuments 
of antiquity, the sacred writings, we trace the Israelites, 
from the patriarchal ages, through the turbulent times of bar- 
baric ignorance, to a considerable degree of civilization and 
efin^ment. Of their civil and religious institutions we have 
a clear and explicit account. As to their skill in the arts 
and sciences we have but little information ; nor do anj 
circumstances appear w^hich can give a very exalted idea of 
it. The Jews do not seem ever to have been a scientiilc or 
philosophical nation. They appear to have been well skilled 
in all the arts of necessity and of conveniency, but not to 
have made any remarkable progress in those of luxury and 
embellishment. Of their hteratui'e we can form a more ex- 
act estimation. Some excellent specimens we have remaiiv- 
ed transmitted to us in the scriptures, especially in the wri- 
tings of the Prophets, and in the Psalms. In the historical 
parts of the scriptures we find a remarkable plainness of 
style and conciseness of narrative, and a wonderful perspi- 
cuity in the didactical pieces. The writings of their pro- 
phets are, for the most part, composed in a poetical style, 
but very different one from another, and all of theni ori^ari- 
als. Most of them abound with the most elevated ideas and 
sentiment, expressed with the greatest energy of diction, 
and embellished with tlie most brilliant ornaments of Oiien-rl 
imagery. Isaiah, in particular, to comprehension of thought 
and splendor of ideas, joins a style at once so euev^iic, --md 
so sweetly harmonious and flowing, that he has often been 
called tlie Demosthenes of the Hebrews: and his writ!ny:s. 
are sufficient to give us an exalted opinion of the Hebrew il;- 
erature. As to the commerce of those eaily ages we can 
form no more than a very imperfect idea ; and, to form any 
idea of it, w^e must have recourse to the observation of gen- 
eral circumstances, occabional intiipationSi^ and oiten to corr^ 



64 LETTERS Let. X, 

ject?ire. It is, liowever, observable, that eveii m the patri- 
3'TJiaiages coUiDierce was so far known, that gold and siiver 
sveve used as the inediam whereby itv/'c<s regulated ; and the 
;;''s,s of embelli^]]ment were so far cJiilivated in some coun- 
tiles, that bracelets, rins;!?, aiid olher oniaiiieotal articles of 
dress were already in o^.e. Wliere, or by whoin, tbose trin- 
kets, were fabiicated we are Dot informed ; but it is mo;^t 
likely they were of Egyptian manufactisre, as from the early 
and numerons population of that coiiniry, and from other 
collateral circumstances, we may reriisoiiably sisppose, that 
aoioiig their other iiigenions works, many of the more trifling 
iuts, which embelHsh life, w^ere cultivated by the Eayp- 
fuuis at an early period ; and the sacred history informs us, 
iliat the Ishmaelites and Midianites carried on a traffic witE 
Egypt, the first foreign trade, perhaps, ever established 
among men. 

In the tumultuous times which succeeded the patriarchal 
age, we find very little information concerning the state of 
commerce. From a general view, however, we may per- 
ceive that the mechanic arts, and various sorts of manufac- 
tures, had made a considerable progress in some countries, 
In times of \ery remote undqiiitj. This may be seen by 
• tjij^idcfing (he curious and rich materials of the tabernacle, 
and the high-priest's garments. There is not the least doubt 
but the Israelites brought out of Egypt much of the know- 
ledge the.j possessed in arts, sciences, and letters. Egypt 
nasi, frofn time imnseniorial, been gradually advancing in 
the knowledge of science and literature; and during the 
greatest part of the period of ti:ne now under contempiiition, 
was celebrated for the wisdojn of its legislature and civil po- 
lity, as well as for the vast extent and population of its ci- 
ties, the magnificence of its edifices, and the flourishing 
state of its at^ricuhure. In all iheae respects it was distin- 
guished above ah the conteiii]]oraty nadons, Babylon itself 
not excepted. Esypt, however, w^as never a warlike na- 
tion ; so that seldom being in a state of hostility with its 
i}ei.2;hboDrs, its political history is but little connected with 
theirs. Sesostris is the only Egyptian conqueror, of any 
Kote, v/hose name stands recorded in history ; and notwith- 
standing the fictitious, or at least very uncertain relations of 
some historians, we know very litlle of his achievements, or 
of the extent of his conquests : and the descriptions of them 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 65 

which we fiod in some books, are to be esteemed little else 
than historical romances. The truth is, that the history of 
Sesostris, as well as of the other Egyptian kings, is so con- 
fused, so distorted, and exaggerated, that we can find very 
few well-authenticated facts in the accounts o£ their reigns» 
or in the general history of Egypt, which is a tissue of alle- 
gorical stories and lying legends, invented by their priests, 
regulated by a fictitious chronology of their own fabrication, 
and transmitted to us by the Greeks ; who, being naturally 
fond of the marvellous, and admirers of the Egyptian phi- 
losophy and history, adopted their legendary stones and 
ideal chronology. The ancients so often supplied the vt'ant 
of authentic information, relative to the transactions of re- 
mote antiquity, by calling in the assistance of a fabulous my- 
tholog}^, that the more we are convinced of the utility and 
value of history, the more we ought to stand upon our guard 
against receiving, as true history, the legendary stories, fab- 
ricated by priests and politicians, in order to impose upon 
the minds of the vulgar. 

ThS government of Egypt was monarchical. The long 
dynasty of kings, who reigned before the subversion of the. 
monarchy by the Babylonians, is known to us by the appel- 
lation of the liiie of the Pharaohs. It is to be observed, 
that Pharaoh was not the proper name of an individual, but 
a title among the Egyptians, equivalent to that of king 
among us ; so that the appellations of Plieiraoh liophna, 
Pharaoh Necho, &c. are of the same signification as King 
Necho, King Hophna, &c. The Egyptian m.onarchy does 
not appear to have ever been absolute; hot how far, and io 
what particulars, if was limited by positive regulations, vre 
have not documents suiScienlly authentic to enable us to de- . 
termine ; but, fiX)m the general appearance of circumstances, 
It is reasonable to conclude, that the king, as vv^eli as the 
people, were directly or indirectly under the absolute con- 
trol of the priests, and that those ministers of religion were 
in effect the absolute sovereigns of Egypt. Of this, the sub- 
jection of the kings, as well as all other deceased persons, 
to the judicial sentence of a tribunal, which, from an exami- 
nation of their past conduct during life, detenninevl whether 
the deceased person should be interred with fi^iieral lites, 
or deprived of that honor, is a proof. This extraordinary 
tribunal was held immediately after the death of the party, 

F2 



^6 LETTERS Let. X. 

and the scruliny was made vnOi tlie aiosl ri2;id punctuality ; 
and as it determined a point of the utmost importance among 
the Egyptians as well as among mod of the ancients, it is no 
unreasonable presumption to suppose lliat it was invented 
by their priesis, in order to subject the monarch, as well as the 
people, niore absolutely to their contiol ; as it is easy to 
suppose what must have been the fate of a plince who had 
been so unfortunate as to disoblige them : for it must be ob- 
served, that the deprivation of finieral rites, among the 
Egyptians, always isnplied an exclusion from the Elysium, 
where the souls of the just live through eternal ages of in- 
describable felicity. 

The ancient state of so celebrated a country as Egypt, if 
it could be well ascertained, would constitute a striking fea- 
ture in the general history of mankind: it is, therefore, a 
Riisfortune that so little is known of it, unless we should 
adopt for history the alles:orical mythology and fabulous le- 
gends of its priests. We have, indeed, much more authen- 
tic information of its laws and civil polity, than of the histo- 
ry of their institution, or of any other transaction which 
took place in the kingdom. It is, hoivever, inconsistent 
with our present plan to inspect them in detail. It is, not- 
withstanding, impossible not to remark/che division of the 
people into dislincl p'rofessions, Vv^hich did not allow the son 
lo folloiv any other profession, or practice any other art, 
than that wl]ich his father had foilovv^ed. This regulation 
has no where been found in any country of note, ancient or 
modern, except Egypt and India, which has caused many 
lo suppose Itiat the inhabitants of India were originally a 
colony from Egypt, or that the Egj^ptians were a colony 
from India. The truth of this, however, it is impossible 
to ascertain. The origin of nations is, for the most part, 
^buried in impenetrable obscurity ; and the migrations and 
intermixtures of the liuman species are so numerous, and so 
diversified, that it is impossible to trace them through their 
diiferent ramifications. The celebrated custom of dividing 
the people into distinct classes, has, however, been much 
applauded by some writers, and as much condemned by 
others. By some it has been supposed highly conducive to 
the perfection of arts and science^, by bringing to the S3me 
point the accumulated experience of successive generations. 
If:, however, it might be supposed favprable ta the operatigris 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 67 

of experience, it was an insurmountable obstacle to the efforts 
of genius, by restraining its flight, and alwajs confining it 
to the same beaten track. Besides the depression of genius, 
it had another evil tendency of the most serious import. 
So invidious a distinction contained within itself a principle 
of disunion, v^hich, according to our modern ideas, might 
have been exceedingly dangerous, and productive of inter- 
nal commotions ; like the far less odious, and less marked 
distinction, between the patricians and plebeians at Rome, 
in latter times. And it is surprising that we have never 
heard of any intestine broils, or revolts of the people, ei- 
ther in Egypt or India on that account ; but it is to be con- 
sidered, that the divisions and subdivisions of the people, 
being so many, balanced one another, and prevented them 
from becoQiing formidable to the government. Another im- 
portant circumstance must also be taken into the account ; 
these distinctions were sanctified by religion, and interwo- 
ven into its very essence, in Egypt as well as in India. In 
this the Egyptian Priests, and the Bramins of India, have 
exactly hit the same mark, and met with equal success. If 
we would trace this system of polity to its origin and funda- 
mental principle, there is not the least doubt but it was a de- 
vice of the priests, for the purpose of securing all power and 
influence to themselves, by damping every effort of aspi- 
ring genius, and extinguishing every idea of ambitious enter- 
prise, among those vvhom they wished to retain in subjec- 
tion ; and by dividing the great mass of the people into so 
many distinct classes, operating a.s checks upon one another, 
and prevented by the tenets of their religion from ever form- 
ing a coalition, so as to be in the least dangerous to their 
priestly rulers ; who, it must be observed, had admitted the 
military order to a participation of their privileges, because 
they well knew, that neither such a system of government, 
nor any other, could be supported without an armed force ; 
and the ascendency which religion gave them over the minds 
of a people nurtured in superstition, furnished them with 
the means of causing the military to act under their direc- 
tion. 

Whether Assyria, or Egypt, was the country in which the 
arts and sciences were first cultivated, is a jquestion difficult, 
and, indeed, at this distance of time, impossible to be deter- 
mined with certainty. However, if a solution should be a^ 



68 LETTERS Let. X. 

tempted from appearances, reasonable conjecture would, per- 
haps, in this respect, give the precedency to the latter. The 
regularity of its civil polity ; the vast embankiiients of the 
Nile; the numerous canals and other admirable works for ihe 
advancement of agriculture ; the magnificent remains of 
Egyptian architecture, which, to this very day, have braved 
the assaults of time ; particularly the pyramids, those stu- 
pendous monuments of the rude magnificence of the primi- 
tive ages ; and the superb ruins of Thebes, the most striking 
remains of ancient splendour that any country can boast ; 
and of the most remote antiquity, even beyond the reach of 
historical record ; v/ith many other things which excite the 
admiration of modern travellers, as they did that of the 
Greek philosophers, who visited the country above two thou- 
sand years ago, all point out Egypt as the country where 
great things were first undertaken, and where mankind made 
the first progress in the arts of civilization. Egypt by its cen- 
tral situation is peculiarly adapted to the purposes of com- 
merce and navigation. The Nile running the whole length of 
the country, facilitated the means of internal trade by the 
easy conveyance of goods from one part to another, and 
could not fail of inspiring the Egyptians with ideas of the 
advantages of navigation ; and pj'obably they v/ere the first 
people who turned their thoughts that way ; although they 
appear to have been afterwards outdone by the Phoenicians. 
The Tyrians cooped up in an island of small extent and pos- 
sessing but little on the terra firmd were under the neces- 
sity of supplying the local defects of their situation, so unfa- 
vourable to agriculture, by taking advantage of its aptitude 
for commerce ; and the opulence they acquired b}^ traffic, 
rendered them powerful. The Egyptians possessing a soil 
of the most exuberant fertility, did not make trade their 
principal pursuit like the Tyrians. With the latter, com- 
merce was the primary object of attention ; with the former, 
it was only a secondary one ; consequently it is no wonder 
the Tyrians should excel in what was the principal object 
of their pursuit, the source of their opulence and power, and 
to which the national genius was so strongly impelled by 
local circumstances. So early as the reign of David, king of 
Israel, about 110 years after the Trojan war, and about 1 080 
years, A. C vast qantities of gold and silver had found their 
way into the countries conquered by him, which were all of 



Let. X. ^ ON HISTORY. 69 

them situated between the Euphrates and the Levant. There 
is Utile doubt but those metals had been brought into these 
countries, in such abundance, by the channels of Egyptian 
and Tyrian commerce, but principally by the latter. The 
Tyrians traded by difterent routes to India, and, no doubt, 
to the coast of Africa, by the way of the Red Sea, w^hich, 
with the Persian Gulph, formed the two great routes by 
which the trade to India and Africa, was carried on. From 
the latter, ascending up the Euphrates and the Tigris, they 
could supply Babylon and Assyria with their various com- 
modities ; and from the Euphrates, as well as from the Red 
Sea, the merchandise of the East was transported over land 
to Tyre, and from thence again dispersed into different coun- 
tries. Then the productions of different climates were col- 
lected, iiiterchanged, and dispersed though various channels 
by Tyrian merchants. The most flourishing period of Ty- 
rian cominerce was that of the existence of the kingdom of 
Judah. The description of the extent and variety of that 
IraiEc, in the 27th chapter of Ezekiel, is the most curious 
monument of the kind any where to be met with in the writ- 
ings of antiquity, as it exhibits a clear and specific represen- 
tation of tlie commercial affairs of the most celebrated mer- 
cantile people then existing; from w^hich we may form a 
more just and distinct idea of the nature and extent of the 
commerce carried on in the ancient world, than from any 
other documents now extant. Tyre, after a siege, protracted 
by its insular situation to the length of 13 years, fell under 
the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar only one year before he 
took and destroyed Jerusalem ; and about one year after 
that memorable epoch, Egypt fell a prey to the same suc- 
cessfid conqueror. This was the fatal blow which put an end 
to the splendor and opulence of the two ancient and cele- 
brated kingdoms of Egypt and Tyre, so famous in the an- 
nals of science, civilization, and commerce. After this period, 
the spoils of nations, and the riches of the world, centred in 
Babylon; and after the conquest of that monarchy by Cyrus, 
the Persian dominions became the theatre of commerce, opu- 
lence, and luxury ; Egypt, Tyre, and Babylon, being all 
comprised Mithin the limits of that extensive and potent 
empire. 

In casting a retrospective glance on a period of such re- 
mote antiquity, and of which so few historical raonumentss 



70 LETTERS Let. X. 

remain, we have seen the history of Egypt involved in fable, 
her philosophy and theology hid behind the impenetrable 
veil of hieroglyph ical obscurity, and many ofsher civil and po- 
litical institutions buried in oblivion. Of the Assyrians we 
know nothing at all, and very little of the Babylonians, in re- 
gard to the modes of civil and social life, or the general turn 
of national or popular manners. Their government was 
monarchical, and seems to have been despotic ; their manner 
of living ostentatiously magnificent and luxurious; their mind 
addicted to superstition, and their religion a system of the 
grossest idolatry, we may reasonably suppose, that the idea 
of one Supreme, self-existent, and eternal Being, the author 
of all existence, was the original and fundamental principle 
of the religion of the Babylonians, as well as of ail other na- 
tions; but they seem, like many others, to have in process 
of time, almoBt lost this primitive idea. The original wor- 
ship of one Supreme intelligence had degenerated into Zaba- 
ism, or the worship of the celestial bodies. Mankind in 
every age, have been so sensible of their own weakness and 
unworthiness to approach the throne of the Sovereign Ruler 
of all, as to see the necessity of some mediator between 
them and that Almighty Monarch whom they supposed to 
be too highly exalted to regard their prayers, or pay any at- 
tention to their concerns. This supposition, with their ina- 
bility to conceive either the operation of an omnipresent 
and all prevailing spirit, or to account for the seeming dis- 
CQjdances and mixture of evil with good, under the immedi- 
ate government of such a Being, induced them to adopt the 
hypothesis of several subordinate deities, governing the 
world under the control of the Great S'.ipreme. As none 
of the pagans supposed those subaltern deities to be beings 
of infinite perfection, the diiTerent wills aiid jarring passions 
of those subordinate rulers, might, according to the ideas of 
paganism, help to account for the seemiiig disorders which 
prevailed in the world. The BabyloiiiaBs imagined that 
they saw in the heavenly bodies those subordinate and>me- 
diatorial divinities ; and they supposed each orb to be the 
habitation of an intelligent and powerful being, delegated by 
the Supreme and Eternal Author of all things, to inspect 
and govern human atFairs. The priests were astronomers; 
they diligently observed the revolutions and various appear- 
ances of the celestial bodies, and assigned to them the gov- 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. ri 

ernment and direction of particular days in regular rotation ; 
and pretended, by their various positions and configurations, 
to foretel future events. Thus the fallacious science of ju- 
dicial astrology took its rise, in the perversion of astrono- 
my to the purposes of priestcraft. Babylon was the cradle 
of astrology, from whence it passed into Egypt. Some ra- 
ther suppose thc?.t it originated in the latter country, and 
from thence was ir:troduced into Chaldea. Which of these 
two suppositions is right, is a question which cannot now be 
determined. The former opinion, however, is tlie most pro- 
bable. But it is certain, that in an early period, it existed 
in both countries ; and it is not a little surprising, that it be- 
came so universal almost throughout the world, and that it 
attracted so much the attention, and influenced so powerful- 
ly the hopes and fears of mankind, in almost every age and 
every country, under almost every political and religious 
system, although discountenanced and condemned by the 
doctrines of Christianity. Even at this very day numbers 
of the vulgar, in every country of Europe, are strongly per- 
suaded of the possibility of foretelling future events, by the 
■ configurations of the planets. This can only be accounted 
for by considering the prying curiosity of man, ever desirous 
of enquiring into his future destiny. Of late, sound philos- 
ophy, and just ideas of astronomical subjects, have explod- 
ed the absurdities and inconsistencies of judicial astrology ; 
and yet there are some who would gladly revive that pre- 
tended science, and restore it to its former credit, by attri- 
Ibuting to the planets an influence over physical and moral 
events, by the operation of natural causes. But sound phi- 
losophy and uniform experience concur to shew, that in the 
system of nature every thing is influenced by causes placed 
within a certain degree of approximation, and not by causes 
so exceedingly remote; and an accurate knowledge of as- 
tronomy had ascertained the distance of the celestial bodies 
to be such as leaves no room to suppose that they can have 
any considerable influence on physical, and much less on 
moral circumstances, in our world, either in regard to nations 
or individuals. Supposing the reality of a planetary influ- 
ence on the affairs of nations and communities, it would be 
necessary, in order to determine its nature and extent, that 
we should be in possession of a correct and well authentica- 
ted astrological history of the world ; but no such work is 



72 LETTERS Let. X. 

any where to be met with. AhcI if the effects of this influ- 
ence on the affairs of nations and collective bodies of men 
could be ascertained, it would still be impossible to deter- 
mine in what manner individuals might be implicated in them. 
When we contemplate the direful efiects of public calamities, 
of plagues and earthquakes, or the destruction of the human 
species in battles or sieges, where thousands fall in one day, 
it requires a degree of credulity, very little consistent with 
either philosophy or reason, to imagine that so many individ- 
uals, ®f different ages, collected out of different countries, 
and involved in one general misfortune, were born under the 
same planetary influence, and that their fate was determined 
by the same configurations of the celestial bodies. A pretend- 
ed skill in this imaginary science, has, however, notw^ith- 
standing its incompatibility with the dictates of reason, and 
the principles of true philosophy, been an useful instrument 
in the hands of impostors, in every age, and in every country, 
for the purpose of turning to their own advantage the igno- 
rance and credulity of the vulgar; as it was among the Ba- 
bylonian priests, whose religion, like that of the Egyptians, 
appears to have been an intricate and mysterious juggle, cal- 
culated for the acquisition of wealth and power, and for ob- 
taining an unlimited ascendency over the minds of the peo- 
ple. 

The history of mankind does not afford a more striking 
instance of the extensive and lasting effects of established 
systems and generally received opinions, on the operations 
of the human intellect, than this remarkable prepossession in 
favour of judicial astrology, which, probably, would never 
have been thought of, had it not been invented by the priests 
pf Babylon, with whose theological system it was essential- 
ly interwoven, and by whose sanction and authority it was 
brought into credit among a credulous and superstitious peo- 
ple, with whose philosophical and religious ideas it was per- 
fectly consistent. 

At a very early period astrology had spread from Baby- 
lon into all the eastern countries, and, in process of time, 
throughout the whole civilized world. The establishment 
of Christianity diminished its credit, but did not extirpate it 
with the other numerous superstitions of paganism. Al- 
though the christian religion condemned the study of this 
ideal and fallacious science, it gained ground in such a man- 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. fS 

ner, that it was held at last in almost as high estimation, 
among christians, as it had been among pagans ; and was not 
exploded even among persons of no inconsiderable li'erarjr 
attainments before the commencement, or rather the middle, 
of the sixteenth centurj ; and even at this time a large pro- 
portion of the common people of this christian country sin- 
cerely believe that the book of fate may be unsealed by the 
study of judicial astrology. That an imaginary science, ori- 
ginating from an erroneous and absurd hypothesis, fabricated 
by the Babylonian priests, should have had so extensive a 
spread, and so universal an influence over the minds of men, 
is a remarkable and striking circumstance in the history of 
the human intellect. 

The Zabian, or Babylonian religion, which, according to 
Dr. Russel, and other accurate investigators of antiquity, 
consisted principally in the adoration of the celestial orbs, as 
the visible deities, who, as they imagined, ruled the world 
in subordination to the sovereign will of one Eterzial Infi- 
nite and All-pervading Spirit, degenerated by degrees into 
the worship of images, erected as symbols and representa- 
tives of those celestial divinities. However, St. Jerome, 
and others, suppose that idolatry, or the worship of images, 
took its rise from the erection of statues to the honour of 
kings and heroes, which, in process of time, became the ob- 
jects of this adoration; and assert, that the statue of Belus, 
the successor of Nimrod, and king of Babylon, was the first 
object of this kind of worship. Perhaps both these circum- 
stances might concur to produce this effect ; it cannot be 
supposed that things of such remote antiquity are capable 
of being fully ascertained. 

From the time of the foundation of Babylon and Nineveh, 
history leaves us almost as much in the dark, concerning the 
political occurrences which took place in the ancient empire 
of the Assyrians, as it does in regard to their laws, institu- 
tions, and manners, until the extinction of that empire by the 
revolt of the governors of Media and Babylon, and the death 
of Sardanapulas. What is told us of Belus, Nhios, and Semi- 
ramis, is so ill authenticated, that nothing like genuine infor- 
mation can be collected from it : and even after that event, 
the history of those nations is so confused, that it cannot be 
relied on. It would be an endless, as well as a useless task, 
to attempt to reconcile the discordances of historians and 

G 



t4 LETTERS Let. X 

chronologers relative to the succession and reigns of the kings 
of Babylon, both before and after Nehuchadnezzar. Each 
different writer has framed an hypothesis of his own, and la- 
boured to support it ; and modern chronologers have often 
employed a great deal of laborious research in order to col- 
lect something like truth from their contradictory accounts. 
However, after perusing all the relations of the ancients, and 
the researches of the moderns, we only know, that after the 
death of Sardanapulas, the empire of the Assyrians and Ba- 
bylonians, which is always accounted the same, was some- 
times united, and sometimes divided, until the city of Nine- 
veh was, by reason of its revolt, entirely destroyed, in the 
manner so pathetically described by the prophet Nahum, of 
which transactions we have no particulars in history, and 
consequently can form no idea of it, but from the striking 
and highly coloured picture given of it by the prophet. Of 
the victorious and splendid reign of Nebuchadnezzar we have 
no succinct and coherent account, but are obliged to collect 
the trausactions from fragments of sacred and profane histo- 
ry ; and yet, of all the Babylonian kings, he is the only one 
of •/'hom we have any knowledge. 

Of the genius and national manners of the Babylonians, we 
may, perhaps, form some tolerably just idea from the obser- 
vation of well known and obvious circumstances. They had 
certainly made no inconsiderable progress in the sciences ; 
but their minds were, in the highest degree, tinctured with 
superslition, which their religion was calculated to inspire 
and to cherish. Of this their cultiA^ation of astrology, and all 
the other arts of divination, with an assiduity and attachment 
beyond any example to be met with in the history of other 
nations of antiquity, is an incontestable proof. Their astrono- 
mers liad made a considerable progress io this science, and 
had discovered and ascertained the revolutions of the celes- 
tial orbs, so far as to be able to calculate the eclipses. Some 
of the first Greek philosophers travelled to Babylon for in- 
fonoation i elalive to astronomy and other branches of know- 
ledge ; and, in this respect, Babylon claims a share with 
Egypt of the honour of having instructed Greece. The uni- 
form and eM'^eosive plain in which Babylon was situated, and 
the clearoefis o'l the atmosphere during a great part of the 
year, was a considerable advantage to the Chaldean astrono- 
mers. The Egyptians possessed VnQ advantages of an un- 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 75 

clouded atmosphere, in an equal, or, perhaps, a superior de- 
gree ; but the plains of Egypt not being in every direction so 
extensive ^as those of Chaldea, did not display so wide an 
horizon ; nor had the Egyptian, or, indeed, any other nation 
ancient or modern, an observatory of so stupendous an alti- 
tude as the great tower of the temple of Belus. Some wri- 
ters tell us, that the perpendicular height of this protligions 
structure was not less than one mile ; but who belies es it ? 
That elegant and ingenious writer. Dr. Russel, (who has 
collected and accurately examined the descriptions given of 
it by those ancient authors, who had seen it, and carefully 
informed themselves of its dimensions) says, that the temple 
was a complete square, each of whose sides was 1200 feet. 
By this description we must suppose he means, that the tem- 
ple was of a cubical form, otherwise his description is not 
clear, by leaving the height undetermined. From the mid- 
dle of this 'edifice the tower rose six hundred feet square, 
and as many high. On the top of this tower, which accoi d- 
Ing to this computation of its altitude, the most moderate 
Aat has ever been made, arose to the enormous lieight of 
eighteen hundred feet, the celebrated Babylonian observa- 
tory was placed where the priests made their astronomical 
I observations. From this stupendous elevation the astrono- 
' mer saw the earth and the heavens displayed in one wide and 
uninterrupted view, which, according to mathematical calcu- 
lations, allowing for the curvature of the earth's convex sur- 
face, could not extend to a less distance, over that uniform 
and level country, than fifty miles every way, from the place 
of observation, ^ and must consequently have taken in con- 
siderably more than the whole tract inclosed within the differ- 

* This supposed estimate of the extent of the prospect seen from the Babylonian 
observatory, on the top of the tower of Belus, is founded on mathematical princi- 
ples. The method of discovering at what distance the regular curvature of the 
earth's surface permits objects to be seen upon it, from any given height, or vice 
versa, is this :— To the earth's diameter add the height of the eye, multiply the 
sura by that height, then the square root by the product gives the distance sought 
In the present case thus : — 

Diameter of the earth, in feet, ac- ? tt • i *. r 4.1, v *. 
cording to Sir Isaac Newton. \ "^^S^* ^^ ^^^ observatory. 

41798117 1800=752.39850600 

and 75239850600=274298 feet=51 miles, 7 fur. 132 yards, 2 feet 
This method is useful at sea, to discover the distance of any object of a known 
height, as soon as it appears in the horizon. And although no part of the land h 
L supposed to present a surface so uniformly level as an expanse of water, yet, in so 
\ fiat a country as the environs of Babylon, and the whole province of Chaldea, H 
"annot be far from tlie truth. 



"^6 l.ETTERS Let. X. 

ent branches of the Enphraleg and Ihe Tigris. Above and 
beneath the vast expanse presented a ma,s;nificent and exten- 
sive prospect, calculated to fili the mind of the spectator with 
the most avrfiii an^i exalted idea of the grandeur of the nni- 
vei'He^ and alfcrded the Babylonian astronomers an opportu- 
nity of cbserTi:!-- the courses o^ihe celestial orbs, for a long 
space of (irr.e, id their passa,^^e from the eastern to the west- 
f^m edge of so vfide an horizon. The prodigious height of 
Uiis tovver, although attested by all historians and ancient 
Iravellers, seems ahnost to sta.gger the credulity of modern 
limes. Howe/er, if it was not quite so high as it has been 
generally represeoied by ancient writers, it must have been 
of an extraordinary and stupendous altitude to authorize such 
bold exaggerations ; for no traveller would have ventured to 
give it such an almost incredible elevation, had not its height 
been in reality such as to astonish the spectator. 

The genius of the Babylonians, as far as we can judge of 
it from known circumstances, appears to have been inclined 
to superstition, and their system of religion tended ta en- 
courage and strengthen that turn of mind. The great num- 
ber of their astrologers, soothsayers, diviners, &c. however, 
shews their intellectual faculties to have been active, and 
their minds full of curiosity and the spirit of enquiry. His- 
tory does not, with any degree of precision, inform us how 
far they carried their attainments in astronomy, the study to 
which they were most addicted. Their proficiency, how- 
ever, was such as to enable them to calculate eclipses, and 
to attract the Greeks to Babylon for the acquisition of astro- 
nomical knowledge. They seem, upon the whole, to have 
been a people addicted to the pursuit of knowledge, although, 
like the Egyptians, and other nations of antiquity, they form- 
ed many vague and absurd ideas and opinions. Their taste 
seems to have been turned to ostentatious splendour in their 
appearance, and bulky magnificence in their architecture, 
as may be conjectured not only from that prodigious struc- 
ture, the vtempie of Belus, but also from the extent of the 
royal palace, and the vast circuit and bulk of the walls of 
the city. The plan, the fortifications, and embellishments 
©f Babylon, do honour to the authors of them, whoever 
-they were, and give us an exalted idea of the power and 
greatness of a people that executed works of such prodi- 
gious magnitude. We cannot but gbserve how much the wri- 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 77 

ters, who have transmitted to us a description of this ancient 
and celebrated city, disagree among themselves in regard to 
its extent and the height of its walls ; and their relations con- 
cerning those particulars maj be considered as striking in- 
stances of the uncertainty of history, in regai^ to circum- 
stantial details. Diod. Siculus says the walls of Babylon 
were 45 miles in circuit. Clitarchus describes them as 365 
feet high, and fortified with 150 towers. Strabo tells us, 
that their circuit was 488 miles. Quintus Curfius says their 
height was 1 50 feet, thickness 32 feet, and circuit 46 miles. 
Herodotus asserts their height to have been 300 feet, their 
thickness 75 feet, and their circuit 60 miles; and although 
the last mentioned author is almost universally accused of eX" 
aggeration, and a proneness to fiction, not only in this des- 
cription, but in many others of his narratives, the ingenious 
Dr. Russel seems inclined to give the preference to his des- 
cription ; because, of all the authors who have written on 
this subject, he alone had seen Babylon in the zenith of its 
splendor and magnificence. It is, however, impossible to re- 
concile those defective and disagreeing accounts, but from 
them, taken collectively, we may discover that the city was 
of an immense extent, and the walls of an astonishing height 
and thickness. As to the different accounts of the height of 
those celebrated walls, we must remember, that Darius 
Hystaspes is said to have reduced it to the half of what it 
had formerly been, in consequence of the revolt of the city 
against the Persian government ; so that the descriptions 
given by those who visited Babylon before and after that 
event, must in consequence be very different. And M. 
D' Anville, who is called by many, and especially by Mr. Gib- 
bon, the prince of geographers, says, that when the ancient 
texts, which describe the extent of Babylon and of Thebes, 
in Egypt, are settled, the exaggerations rethiced, and the 
measures ascertained, it will be found that those famous ci- 
ties^ filled the great, but not incredible extent of 25 or 30 
miles ; an hypothesis widely different from what has com- 
monly been believed* Mem, de V Academie, Sec, Thus,, 
from the concurrent testimony of all ancient historians, and 
their modern commentators, although widely disagreeing in 
regard to particulars, we may conclude that Babylon far sur- 
passed in extent the largest of our European cities ; and in 
that particular^ as its form was nearly squarcj it was equal 

2 



V 



78 LETTEBS Let. X. 

to any two of them ; but as the houses were not contiguous 
and the streets wide and far asunder, forming by their intersec- 
tions large squares of garden, and arable, and meadow groundg 
it cannot be supposed to have been nearly equal to either Lon- 
don or Paris in population. The plan, whether it had been 
the effect of sagacious design, or of caprice, was grandj 
beautiful, and useful, and equally conducive to the secnrity, 
the pleasure, and the health of the inhabitants. The Ba- 
bylonian monarchs, desirous of. rendering their capital im- 
pregnable to every mode of attack, at that time known or 
thought of, had surrounded it with walls of an immense height 
and thickness, and ditches of a proportionable width and 
depth, constantly supplied with water by the Euphrates, which 
ran through the middle of the city. The streets were laid 
out in right lines, the whole length and breadth of the city, 
crossing one another at right angles ; so that, from every in- 
tersection, four gates of the city might be seen, every street 
forming a Qiost magnificent vista, very unlike the narrow and 
crooked streets of our European cities. The vast extent of 
the place admitted large squares of garden and arable land 
between the intersecting streets, so that every house might 
have a small field behind it. This contrivance contributed 
exceedingly to render the city proof against the assaults of 
famine, if it was blockaded and its supplies intercepted, as 
its impregnable walls and unfordable ditches rendered it ii> 
vnlnerable against the assaults of an enemy. Another cir- 
cumstance of exceeding great utihty and advantage, which 
has not been generally remarked, was involved in this plan. 
It was in a particular manner adapted to the local circum- 
stances of the situation and the nature of the climate ; for if 
such a city, surrounded with walls of so prodigious a height, 
situated in «o sultry a climate, and so damp a soil, in the 
midst of so low and level a country, had been close crouded 
in a narrow compass, like our modern cities., it would have 
been a mere sink of pestilential contagion. The height of 
the walls would have prevented the circulation of the air 
from the open country, and have rendered the atmosphere c^ 
the city in the highest degree noxious and fatal to its inhabit- 
ants ; all which pernicious effects were obviated by the open 
and rural plan on which it was constructed, so that we can- 
iiot but remark, that Ihe great purposes of magnificence, 
strength, and salubrity, were combined in the plan, a circum- 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 79 

stance which must attract our attention, and excite our adnii* 
ration, in contemplating the transactions of so earlj a period. 
Nebuchadnezzar, undoubtedly, expecting no less than to 
establish a monarchy as durable as the world itself, com- 
pleted the fortifications and embellishments of the city. All 
his vast projects, however, were soon brought to nothing, 
by that Providence which rules and governs all, and can, at 
any time, confound the wisdom of the wise ; arranging with 
wisdom unsearchable that uninterrupted train of causes and 
effects which determines the success of all human projects^ 
The wealth and power of the Babylonians soon produced a 
careless security joiaed to the most extravagant luxury : 
Masters of the best part of the world, the Babylonian kings^ 
successors of the great Nebuchadnezzar, instead of following 
jhm example, and pursuing the same vigorous measures, ad- 
dicted themselves to indolence and luxurious effeminacy. 
They paid no attention to political or military affairs, and a 
total relaxation of discipline introduced itself into the army. 
The Babylonian troops, who, under Nebuchadnezzar, had 
appeared irresistible, were so degenerated, that in the war 
against the Medes and Persians, they were unable to face 
the enemy in the field, and experienced a continued succes- 
sion of defeats. History affords but little information that 
can be relied on concerning the immediate causes and par- 
ticular transactions of that war. All we can collect on the 
subject is, that (he Babylonians, almost constantly defeated, 
having seen the subjugation of all their vast dominions, were 
at length obliged to shut themselves up in their capital, where 
the whole remaining force of their empire being concentrated, 
they supposed that the height and strength of their walls 
would ensure their safety against all attacks of the enemy, 
while their vast magazines, with the resources afforded by 
the fields and gardens within the city, w ould enable them to 
bid defiance to all attacks of famine. The court, lulled into 
fi fatal security, and immersed in sensual luxury, took little 
precaution for defence. The Dowager Q,ueen had the ad- 
ministration of public affairs ; and Belshazzar, the reigning 
king, was a stranger to state affairs. Things being in this 
situation, Cyrus was informed, that on a certain approaching 
festival the whole city would be plunged in the most riotous 
scenes of drunkenness and debauchery. On receiving this 
intelligence he formed the project of cutting tlje banks of the 



no LETTERS Let. X. 

Euphrates a little above the city, and turning its current in- 
to the vast reservoirs which Nebuchadnezzar had made for 
the purpose of receiving the superabundant ^'^ aters of that ri- 
ver, which, in the times of great floods, brougiit down such 
a quantity of water from the mountains of Media and Armen- 
ia, as used to inundate the country, and sometimes the city 
itself. Having carried this plan into execution, in the evening 
preceding the festival, the river was quickly dried, and he 
marched his troops up the channel directly into the city, 
and either finding the brazen gates descending to the river 
open, or else forcing them, he entered the city without op- 
position, and found the inhabitants, the soldiery, and the 
court, engaged in scenes of debauchery and intemperance. 
There advancing to the royal palace, he soon forced an en- 
trance, and put the king and all his courtiers to the sword, in 
the midst of their drunken revels. Thus fell Babylon, the 
most celebrated city of the ancient world, in the reign of 
Servius TuUius, king of Rome ; an event which constituted 
the first great revolution and transfer of power and property 
among mankind ; for the Assyrian and Babylonian monar- 
chies are always accounted the same ; the latter being only a 
continuation of the former, under a different dynasty of 
princes. 

During the period of time in which the banks of the Nile, 
the Tigris, and the Euphrates, weie the grand theatre of hu- 
man action, and the countries where civilization, science, and 
luxury had principally made their appearance, ail Europe, 
except Greece, was buried in savage ignorance, without the 
knowledge of any of the arts or conveniences of civilized so- 
ciety. Of all the Europeans the Greeks were the only peo- 
ple who had begun to emerge from barbarism. As early as 
the age of Moses the Greeks had begun to strike out the rude 
ouf lines of government and civil poHty ; and during the period 
which elapsed between the egress of the Israelites out of 
Egypt, and the establishment of the monarchy in the house 
of David, their different kingdoms and states had assumed a 
regular and systematical appearance ; and from that time, to 
the aera marked by the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, they had 
made gradual advances in science and civilization. It was not, 
however, until nearly the commencement of Nebuchadnez- 
zar's reign, that the Greek philosophers, travelling into 
Egypt and Chaldea^ began to import into their own country 



Let. X. ON HISTORY. 81 

the learning of foreign nations ; and tliis may be fixed as the 
epoch of Grecian philosophy. This memorable jera is mark- 
ed by such a constellation of great and illustrious characters 
as no preceding age perhaps could boast 5 for Nebuchadnez- 
zar, who may, without any impropriety, be called the foun- 
der of the Babylonian monarchy, and was in the strictest 
sense the author of its greatness, was contemporary with Cy- 
rus, who overthrew that splendid political structure, and 
founded the Persian empire upon its ruins. Cyrus, accord- 
ing to the most approved chronology, being born in the 
fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, A. C. 600v In this 
age Periander ruled at Corinth, and Pisistratns in Athens ; 
Solon also, and Daniel, as well as the philosophers Anaxi- 
mander and Pithagoras were contemporary with the above- 
mentioned conspicious political characters. While Greece 
was making considerable advances in science and legislation, 
a nation was formed in Italy which was designed by Provi- 
dence to bear rule over the whole civilized part of mankind. 
Rome, the destined mistress of the world, was founded by 
Romulus, in the reign of Achaz, or Ahaz, king of Judah, 
A. C. 752, and 148 years before the commencement of the 
reign of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the most generally 
received systems of chronology. We are not, however, to 
suppose those computations relative to the events of a remote, 
and obscure antiquity to be exactly ascertained ; we can on- 
ly regard them as approximations to truth ; but anachronisms 
of a few years are of little importance in a view of ancient 
history, where historians and chronologers themselves, after 
the most laborious researches, cannot agree. 

The city of Rome, when newly built on the Palatine 
Mount, contained about a thousand houses or huts, built of 
mud, and thatched with reeds ; and the palace of its king was 
of the same materials. The number of its inhabitants, who 
were able to bear arms, were about three thousand, and the 
whole Roman territory was about eight miles across. The 
inhabilants consisted of lawless vagabonds, debtors, outlaws, 
and malefactors, collected together by its warlike and savage 
founder ; and, in order to increase the number of citizens, it 
was made a sanctuary for all persons of a similar description. 
From so despicable a beginning arose the greatest and most 
powerful empire the world has ever seen* 



82 LETTERS Let. XL 

Among the savage citizens of infant Rome, we cannot, 
however, but observe a stead j and prudent disposition of 
mind, as well as a warlike and enterprising genius. Wise laws 
were enacted, and prudent regulations, suitable to a newlj 
formed state, were adopted in the reign of Romulus. Numa 
Pompilius, his successor, and second king of Rome, was a 
lover of peace ; and in his long and peaceful reign he regu- 
lated, with the most minute exactness and attention, the civil 
and religious institutions of the Romans ; so that he maj, 
with the greatest propriety, be called the author of their reli- 
gion and laws. Romulus was the David, and Numa the Solo- 
mon of the Romans. The general aspect of the world, at the 
close of the period we have been contemplating, w as this : 
the Persian empiie, founded on the rums of the Babylonian 
greatness, uniting the richest, the most populous, and best 
cultivated parts of the world under its dominions ; the Greek 
republics considerably advanced in the knowledge of legisla- 
ture, civil government, and the military art : Rome, in its in- 
fancy, under a regal government, but as yet scarcely emerg- 
ed from barbarism, little known, and holding no conspicuous 
rank in the scale of nations ; and all the rest of Europe in a 
state similar to that of the savage tribes of America when 
first discovered by the Spaniards. 

Having endeavoured to display as distinct a view of this 
long and dark period of history, which may properly be call- 
ed the infancy of science and civilization, as the obscurity 
of the subject permits, I beg leave to subscribe myself with 
sincere esteem and profound respect, 

Sir, your's, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER XL 



SIB, 



WE now begin to have a view of a more interesting, as 
well as a more luminous period, commencing and ending 
with the Persian empire, and affording ample matter of spec- 
ulation to a curious observer of events. 

Persia from an obscure and dependent kingdom, exalted 



Let. XI. ON HISTORY. 83 

upon the ruins of the Babylonian empire to the highest pitch 
of opulence, power, and splendor, soon began to deviate from 
the vigorous plan of administration of the great Cyrus. Her 
monarchs, placed on the summit of human greatness, degene- 
rated from the virtues which had placed their victorious an- 
cestor on the throne, and adopted the pride, the pomp, the 
ostentatious pageantry, and effeminating luxury of the Baby- 
Ionian monarchs, which had caused the downfal of their pow- 
er, the subversion of their empire, and the extinction of their 
race. This awful lesson had no effect on the Persian kings. 
Persia, keeping up her splendor, declined in power. The 
administration grew corrupt, the government feeble and inef- 
ficacious, and the mihtary discipline relaxed and neglected. 
The monarch generally a stranger to public affairs, and the 
monarchy resting more on its ancient fame than on its pre- 
sent power, while the rival and hostile Greeks, daily improv- 
ing in arts and arms, began openly to bid defiance to the 
power of the great King, and his numerous but undisciplin- 
ed armies. Some of the Persian monarchs, it is true, seem- 
ed to awake from their lethargy and shew a spirit of en- 
terprize, which, for a moment, promised the revival of 
their glory and the re-establishment of their declining power ; 
but these attempts were no more tharr transient exertions, the 
efforts of expiring strength. Darius Hystaspes was the first 
monarch of Persia who undertook a war against the Greeks ; 
but the bloody plains of Marathon taught him how to appre- 
ciate the courage, the discipline, and military skill of his 
European enemies ; and after a disgraceful termination of 
[a war maiked with defeat and disaster, on the part of the 
Persians, that prince, with his crown, bequeathed to his 
successor, Xerxes, his animosity against Greece, and his de- 
sire of effacing the disgrace of Persia. Xerxes caused the 
trumpet of war to sound through every province of his 
vast dominions, and after extraordinary preparations, at- 
tacked Greece, A. C. 481, with the most formidable 
armament mentioned in history. Herodotus estimates 
the forces of Xerxes at one million seven hundred thou- 
sand foot, and eighty thousand horse. Trogus gives the 
number at only one million foot, and eighty thousand 
horse. The number of gallies is rated at two thousand two 
hundred and eight, and the transport vessels at three thousand. 
Historians, however, disagree very much in regard to the 



84 LETTERS Let. XL 

number of the Persian troops, as they do upon every other 
subject whenever they pretend to give an exact account of 
number, and other minute particulars, which they take for 
the most part from common report, and not from correct in- 
formation. The disagreement of historians respecting this 
great and important transaction, is only similar to innumei-a- 
ble other instances of historical uncertainty, in regard to cir- 
cumstantial minutiae, with which it is almost morally impos- 
sible that the historian should be perfectly acqaainted ; and 
it ought to operate as a caution against too easy a credulity 
when we find historians pretending to tell us what it is evi- 
dent that they cannot possibly know. 

Notwithstanding those unavoidable errors and discordan- 
ces, there is, however, no reason to doubt of this armament 
having been the most formidable the world has ever seen ; 
and it evidently displays the vast resources of the Persian em- 
pire, and its irresistible power, if those resources had been 
well managed ; but numbers could not supply the want of 
courage, military discipline, and patriotism. Greece was at 
that time an assemblage of independent and often hostile 
states ; but foreign invasion impelled them to adopt unani- 
mous counsels, and to take decisive measures. The Greeks, 
setting aside all subjects of discontent and animosity among 
themselves, made the common interest the common cause. 
AH the different states, except the Thebans, who were inva- 
riably attached to the Persian interest, entered into a confed- 
eracy, founded upon their common interest, in repelling a 
foreign invasion, which threatened nothing less than sub- 
jugation and servitude to Greece. 

Historians pretend not only to detail the most minute par- 
ticulars of this war, but also to amuse us with circumstantial 
narratives of the debates which took place in the councils of 
war, held both among the Greeks and Persians ; the parti- 
cular opinions of Mardonius, nephew of Xerxes, and com- 
mander of the land forces ; of Artabazus and of Xerxes him- 
self, and the arguments used by them for and against under- 
taking this grand expedition ; with many other minute par- 
ticulars, which we may consider as embellishments of histo- 
ry, but can hardly esteem them real narratives of facts, un- 
less historians had condescended to inform us by what means 
they had obtained the knowledge of what passed in those mil- 
itary councils of the Greek and Persian commanders. Re- 



Let. XI. ON HISTORY. 85 

garding, however, these circumstantial details merely as his- 
torical ornaments, the real authentic relation of this Qiemora- 
ble expedition merits, in an eminent degree, the remembrance 
and attention of posterity. The Persian king, with his innu- 
merable miiltitiTdes, passed the Hellespont out of Asia into 
Europe. The Greeks were obliged to retreat before an ar- 
my which seemed irresistible ; but the gallant and almost un- 
paralleled defence of the straits of Thermopylae, anarron de- 
file among the momitains of Thessafy, by Lecnidas aiiu his 
>Spartans, gave the Persians a formidable specimen of Grecian 
valour and discipline. The Spartan king, with his valiant 
detachment, having fallen overpowered with numbers in that 
ever memorable action, the Persians gained an unobstructed 
entrance into the interior of Greece ; and the Athenians, 
unable to defend their city, retired to their ships. Xerxes 
advancing with his enormous army, plundered and destroyed 
the country in the most deplorable manner, levelled w ith the 
ground the temples of the gods of Greece, and burnt Athens 
in the sight of its terrified citizens, who, from their ships, 
were indignant spectators of the flames which reduced their 
city to ashes, and in volvedtheir temples and possessions in on« 
general conflagration. The Persian fleet at the same time 
advanced, but was totally defeated by the Greeks, who after- 
wards ventured to attack the Persians by land. The for- 
tune of the war was then changed. The Persians defeated, 
hatrassed, and disheartened, began to retreat. The Greeks, 
on this occasion, adopted a plan worthy to serve as a lesson 
to every nation in similar circumstances, instead of cutting 
off* the retreat of the terrified enemy, which they might easi- 
ly have done, they gave him every opportunity of eifecting 
it. They wiselj considered, that such a numerous host, of 
armed foes, shot iip in their country, without a possibility of 
retreating, might, through necessity, adopt vigoroiiS measures 
and grow courageous through despair ; and, indeed, before 
such a number of enemies could have been cut otFor subdu- 
ed, the whole country must have been rendered an entire 
scene of slaughter and desolation. If they had even surren- 
dered prisoners, their numbers were sufScient to produce a 
famine in a country of so inconsiderable an exien' as Greece. 
Through these considerations the Greeks contrived to spread 
a rumor in the enemy's camp, that they had resoivod to des- 
troy the bridge of boats which the Persians had laid over the 

H 



S6 LETTERS Let. XL- 

Hellespont, a measure which they never intended to ta^e. 
It is even said, that Themistocles, commander of the Athe- 
nian fleet, gave private information of this determination to the 
Persian king, under colour of friendship. The consequence, 
however, was, that Xerxes, panic-struck, immediately re- 
treated ; and having left an army of 400,000 men, under the 
command of Mardonius, he himself, with the rest of his army^ 
crossed the Hellespont into Asia. Mardonius was totally 
defeated the next campaign by the Greeks, himself slain, 
and his numerous army, which was apparently fully suffi- 
cient for the conquest of all Greece, was almost entirely an- 
nihilated. In this manner, the most powerful armament ever 
fitted out by any nation, experienced nothing but defeat and 
disgrace. This memorable expedition deservedly makes a 
conspicuous jSgure in history, and is worthy of particular re- 
mark. It exhibits a warlike and patriotic people repelling a 
most formidable invasion from an enemy, whose numbers and 
resources were in more than a tenfold proportion superior to 
theirs, and shews, in the most striking point of view, the con- 
trast between patriotism and military discipline, on the one 
side, and luxury, effeminacy, and mismanagement on the oth- 
er. The succeeding wars, between Greece and Persia, were 
Cariied on with various success ; but, upon the whole, in a 
manner favourable to the Greeks. The Persians soon found 
them terrible and dangerous enemies, and considered them as 
the aspiring rivals of their power. The Persian monarchs, 
after this, adopted the policy of turning the arms of the Greek 
republics one against another, by a seasonable distribution of 
bribes, among the most active chiefs and persons of the 
greatest power and influence ; and Persian gold, during a 
long time, agitated Greece with intestine wars and commo- 
tions. At length a period arrived, in which the affairs of 
Greece took a turn, Vvhich proved equally fatal to the liber- 
ties of that coirntrj^, and the existence of the Persian monar- 
chy. Philip, king of Macedonia, a small and hitherto un- 
noticed kingdom, had in his youth been an hostage among 
the Thebans, and in that situation had received an education 
suitable to his rank. He had studied philosophy and rhetoric, 
under the ablest masters, and had been trained to arms under 
the great Epaaiioondas. Being endowed by nature with a 
great and aspiring genius, and an excellent understanding, he 
had profited in a supereminent degree by the instructions of 



Let. XL ON HISTORY. Of 

those great men ; and coming to the throne of Macedoniaj 
with these personal advantages, he soon began to form the 
most extensive plans for aggrandizing his power. By a train 
of the most profound and successful politics he procured 
liimself to be recognized a member of the Amphjctionic 
council, or general assembly of the Greeks, which seems to 
have resembled the Diets of the German empire. Having; 
gained that point, he soon afterwards, by his arms and his iti- 
trigiies, obtained a decided ascendency over the differeiii 
states of Greece ; and by artfully bribing the leading nieni- 
hers, and employing every engine of force and fraud, subject- 
ed them entirely to his dominion, so that, although they still 
retained the name of republics, Piiilip was, in effect, sove- 
reign of Greece. The reign of Philip is remarkable, and the 
transactions which took place in it are curious and interest- 
ing ; but, however splended his political and military talents 
may appear, his moral character is detestable. We see in 
this prince the most shining abilities converted to the worst 
of purposes. He was not only a philosopher, but also a con- 
summate orator ; and, beyond all manner of doubt, one of the 
greatest politicians and generals that any other age has ever 
produced. All these brilliant accomplishments he employed 
for the aggrandizement of his own power, at the expence of 
the liberties of his neighbours; and his whole life exhibits a 
complete specimen of unconscientious policy and unprinci- 
pled conduct. The most laudable feature of Philip's charac- 
ter, was his love of literature ; and the most commendable ac- 
.tion of his life was the great care he took of the education of 
|his son Alexander. He made choice of an elegant palace, in 
a retired situation, as the most proper for that purpose, and 
engaged the great Aristotle to be his preceptor in philosophy 
and literature, while he hisself trained him to arms under 
his own invincible banners. If the life of Philip be woithv of 
the attention of the historical student, his death is not less in- 
teresting and remarkable. It affords a most striking instance of 
the instability of all hu;na!i power and of the uncertainty of ail 
human projects. Philip had resolved on the invasion of the 
Persian empire, with the whole confederate force of Greece and 
Macedonia ; a measure extremely popular among the Greeks, 
who were elated wiih the hopes of retaliating upon that empire 
the evils they had suffered from the invasion of Xerxes. He 
accordingly summoned the general council of the Grecian 



88 LETTERS Let. XL 

states. The quota to be furnished by each state was determin- 
ed, and Fiiiiip being declared generalissimo of the confederate 
Greeks esertei'. himself with extraordinarv activity and dili- 
gence in making the most formidable preparations for that great 
expedition. His whole armj was in readiness to cross the Hel- 
lespont io the most perfect state of military discipline and equip- 
ment, and nothing appeared to de}Ry his entering on the im- 
portant contest ^yliich was to decide the fate of Greece and 
Persia. In this promising situation of affairs, so flattering to 
his anibliion, Philip resolved to display his ponip and 
splendor before the assembled Greeks in solemnizing the nup- 
tials of his daughter ; but how uncertain is all terrestrial pow- 
er and grandeur : in the midst of the most brilliant spectacle 
Greece had ever beheld surrounded by his guards and the 
principal officers of the Grecian states, who were paying him 
little less than divine honours, Philip was stabbed to the heart 
by a desperate assassin, and immediately expired, bury- 
ing in the grave with himself all his flattering prospects of 
iioiversal monarchy, and leaving his grand expedition against 
the Persian empire to be carried into execution by Alexander, 
his son and successor. Thus ended the important reign of 
Philip, king of Macedonia, whose extensive plans, joined to 
his extraordinary abilities in the cabinet and the field, intro- 
duced the srreatest clianse of affairs the world had at that time 
ever experienced. His projects were carried into effect by 
Alexander, his son, in the manner with which every one is 
acquainted. This Prince, in about twelve years, had con- 
quered the Persian empire, and made that celebrated inroad 
into India so much spoken of by historians ; and, after return- 
ing from that famous expedition, died at Babylon in the thir- 
ty-third or thirty-fourth year of his age, A. C. 324. The for- 
tune and successes of Alexander had been the most brilliant of 
any recorded in history, and his reign constiiutes a mostremark- 
able epoch in human affiirs, having displayed a new scene of 
things, and produced an extraordinary and important change 
in the political aspect of the world. The subversion of the 
Persian empire by Alexander and his Greeks, developes a 
train of causes and effects extremely worthy the attention 
of the historian, the politician, and the philosopher. The 
whole scene of the wars between Greece and Persia is of a 
more interesting nature than any other wars which had hap- 
pened before that time. During the whole period which had 



Let. XL ON HISTORY. 89 

elapsed, between the first invasion of Greece, by Darius 
Hystaspes, and the extinction of the Persian monarchy, 
wiiich took place on the defeat and death of Darius Codo- 
mannus, A. C. 330, we see the contrast between a rising and 
a falling people ; between a nation weak in resources, but 
warlike, active, and enterprising, and a nation numerous 
and opulent possessing vast resources but luxurious and ef- 
feminate ; whose power was apparent rather than real, whose 
numerous armies kept up a fallacious appearance of military 
strength, and the ostentatious parade of whose court dazzled 
the eyes of the neighbouring nations with a false show of 
power. The object of those wars was in the highest degree 
important and interesting. Asia had till then been the theatre 
of all the great transactions which had taken place among 
men ; and, together with Egypt, had been the seat of arts and 
sciences, of literature and commerce, and the only quarter of 
the globe where extensive political plans had been formed, 
and powerful kingdoms established. Europe had till that 
time been unnoticed, but was now just emerging from bar- 
barity. Greece had received from Egypt and Babylon the 
rudiments of civilization, and acquired some knowledge of the 
sciences. Her active, ingenious, and enterprising inhabitants, 
had established colonies in Italy, Spain, and the southern 
coast of Gaul, as well as in the islands of the Mediterranean, 
and begun to extend tlieii' commerce, as well as to improve 
their philosophy and literature. These circumstances the 
Greeks had by their active and enterprizing genius, turned 
Ito such advantage as soon to become the rivals of that po- 
'tent empire, v;hich ruled all the then known parts of Asia. 
The wars between the Greeks and Persians were to decide 
the grand point, whether Asia or Europe should have Ihe 
ascendancy. After a long contest, the balance turned in 
favour of Europe, which then gained a superiority over 
Asia and has maintained it to this day. Th:? grand and 
decisive contest, was, therefore, of greater iiiipyrtance in 
every political and moral point of view : and involved con- 
sequences of greater magnitude and interest than any which 
had preceded it. Alexander's expedition against ihe Per- 
sian empire is the most celebrated military eiiterprize re- 
corded in history, and its success the most brilliant. It affect- 
ed the second great revolution of power that has marked the 
history of mankind and has conferred on AlexandeA the nnques- 

H2 



90 LETTERS Let. XL 

tionable title of the greatest and most successful conqueror 
the world has ever seen ; whether he can claim the appel- 
lation of the consuffiinate politician and general is somewhat 
more problematical. His abilities in these respects, have, 
notwithstanding the brilliancy of his successful career, which 
has so much dazzled the eyes of posterity, been variously es- 
timated and represented. By some be has been called a mad- 
man, by others a hero. Some have admired his magnanimi- 
ty and heroism, and esteemed him the greatest of warriors, 
while others have represented him as a plunderer of nations 
and a destroyer of mankind. In appreciating his character, 
a just medium, however, ought to be observed. In his in- 
vasion of Asia he most certainly had a better pretext than 
the generality of those, who at different times, have made 
hostile aggressions on their neighbours. If the affair be con- 
sidered in a national point of view, it was the most popular 
enterprize that could have been enterea on, as it perfectly 
coincided with the sentiments of resentment entertained by the 
Greeks on account of the insults and injuries they had re- 
peatedly suffered from the Persians. In regard to the situa- 
tion in which Alexander was placed, it was certainly such as 
imposed on him the necessity of undertaking the war, unless 
he had resolved to forfeit the esteem of his ssbjects, the 
confederate Greeks and Macedonians. His father, Fhiiip, 
had projected the entejprize, and made ai] the nec^sary 
preparations for carrjing it into execution. He had trained 
an army, superior in military skill and discipline, to any the 
world had ever seen ; and Alexander had scarcely any 
thing leh to do, but to put himself at its head, and lead it to 
victory and conquest. In that situation he was under an 
almost absolute necessity of executing an enterprize which 
Philip had concerted ; for which he had made every ad- 
equate preparation, and which, if death had not frustrated 
his aspiring views, he would undoubtedly have carried in- 
to full effect. In such circumstances Alexander could not 
have desisted from the undertaking, without exhibiting him- 
self an example of pusillanimity to his own and all future 
ages ; and consequently, in his attack on Persia, he nrost 
stand justified, or at least excused, in the mind of every one 
who knovvs how to observe and reflect, as h^ did no more 
than what every man of an ordinary share of courage m.ust, 
in such circumstances, have found himself compelled to dp. 



Let. XI. ON HISTORY. 91 

His subsequent conduct, on many occasions, both during the 
course of that war, and in his other enterprizes, was such, 
however, as cannot be ascribed to any other principle than 
an overbearing ambition, and an enthusiastic love of fame, 
and would have been stigmatised by posterity with the name 
of extravagant rashness, if success had not stamped upon it 
the title of magnanimity. The circumstances, however, 
which imposed upon Alexander the necessity of being a 
conqueror, tend very much to diminish or at least to obscure 
his reputation as a general in the eyes of an intelligent obser- 
ver. Philip had concerted his plans in such a manner, had 
trained such an army, and had made such preparations, as 
could hardly fail of ensuring success. Some writers of that 
age say, that every private soldier in the army was qualified 
to be an officer, and that every officer possessed miHtary 
skill sufficient for a commander in chief. In such general as- 
sertions it is proper to make some abatement ; it was custo- 
mary among the Greeks to exaggerate. However when eve- 
ry allowance is made for such exaggerations, it is certain that 
the bulk of Alexander's army was composed of veterans, 
trained to arms by that great master of tactics and military 
discipline, king Philip, v/ho had formed the impenetrable 
Macedonian phalanx in such a manner that it was almost im- 
possible to break its closely compacted ranks. His success, 
therefore, is not to be wondered at, leading such an army 
against a luxurious, effeminate, and unwarlike enemy ; whose 
forces, though numeious, were ill commanded and undisci- 
plined. If Alexander had not been at the head of such an 
army, and been assisted by the councils and exertions of 
such commanders as Parmenio, Lysimachus, Antigonus, Per- 
diccas, Craterus, Ptolemy, and others ; or if he had turned 
his arms westu ard against the warlike Romans instead of the 
eiFeminate Persians, his affairs would, in all probability, have 
assunied-a very different aspect, and he would scarcely have 
shined in the page of history as the invincible conqueror. 
But every observing and intelligent reader of history cannot 
but see, that in this war the circumstances of the two bell^ 
gerent nations, and the state of their armies were such, that 
a general of ordinary abilities in Alexander's place could 
hardly have failed of success. Possessing all the advanta- 
ges of an excellent literary and military education, and ei*- 
dowed by nature with courage, magnanimity, and genius, 



92 LETTERS Let. XL 

Alexander appears to have been capable of the greatest 
things ; but we can onlj estimate his political and military 
character by what he actually performed ; and in this esti- 
mation we must allow, that every circumstance duly consi- 
dered, Alexander's achievements were a much less arduous 
task than those of many other warriors, whose successes have 
been far less brilliant, and whose names shine with a much 
less dazzling lustre. 

It must, however, be confessed, that some of Alexander's 
projects are characteristic of a political and commercial, as 
well as a warlike genius, and redound more to his honor than 
his mad career of conquest. His foundation of the city of 
Alexandria, in a situation so extremely favorable to commerce 
seems to indicate an extensive view of the advantages accru- 
ing from ^ trade ; and the flourishing state of that city, both 
while it continued the capital of an independent kingdom, 
and afterwards under the Roman and Byzantine empires, 
displays the justness of his understanding in the choice of so 
excellent a situation for a great mercantile city. His sending 
out his admiral Nearchus to explore the coasts of Persia and 
India, also shews that he was actuated by a spirit of discov- 
ery, as well as an avidity of conquest ; and if he had attained 
to an advanced age, it is not possible to conceive what he 
might have performed, when the best parts of the world be- 
ing subdued, conquest could no longer have presented to 
him the same allurements. 

Historians have entertained us with strange and contradic- 
tory accounts of the causes of the death of this conqueror. 
Many of them ascribe it to the effect of poison, an opinion, 
which, if we consider his arbitrary conduct, in many respects 
so disagreeable to the Greeks and Macedonians, and above all 
the unprincipled ambition of his generals, is not at all impro- 
bable ; but they have related many improbable and romantic 
circumstances concerning the affair, which may be seen in 
Plutarch, and other authors. The opinion of others is, that he 
died of disease contracted by drunkenness and intemperance. 
All, however, that we can collect from these contradictory 
relations is, that he died of a fever at Babylon, about A. C. 324, 
and about two hundred and fifteen years after the conquest 
of Babylon and the establishment of the Persian empire by 
Cyrus. 



Let. XL ON HISTORY. 93 

Haying been impelled by the nature of the subject to 
make reiMarks somewhat at large on a war the most impor- 
tant, and terminated with the most splendid success of any 
recorded in the annals of military enterprize, as well as on 
the circumstances and character of the most celebrated con- 
queror mentioned in history, let us now take a general view 
of the progress of arts, sciences, and hterature, during the 
period of two hundred and fifteen years which elapsed dur- 
ing the existence of the Persian empire, from its estab]is|h- 
ment on the ruins of that of Babylon by Cyrus, about A. C. 
540, to its final subversion by the Greeks under Alexanders 
A. C. 330. On turning our eyes upon Greece, during this 
interesting period, a noble and most delightful prospect of 
the rapid advancement of the human mind, in every depart- 
ment of scientific and literary acquisition, presents itself to 
our view. The rudiments of philosophy and civil polity, 
and of almost every ait and science, v/hich Greece had re- 
ceived from Egypt, were so well cultviated and improved by 
the active and penetrating genius of her people, that in the 
space of less than three centuries, from their first application 
to the arts and embellishments of civilized society, the Greeks 
had made so extraordinary a progress in architecture, paint- 
ing, statuary, and other ornamental arts, as well as in every 
kind of literary composition, that they have never yet been 
surpassed. Their performances in ail these kiads have al- 
ways been esteemed models of excellence ; and their writings, 
in every branch of composition, have, in all ages, to this very 
day, been looked up to as the standard of literary perfection. 
In sublimity of thought, and accuracy of reasoning, their phi- 
losophers attract our adoiiration ; and their poets and orators, 
if ever they have been equalled, have most certainly never 
been excelled by any, either in ancient or modern times. In 
the time of Alexander, or rather of his father Philip, and th» 
age immediately preceding, Greece exhibited a most inter- 
esting spectacle of the highly cultivated state of the human 
intellect. The education of youth was one of the principal 
objects attended to by persons of opulence, as without it 
no one could hope for advancement to civil or military 
offices, which by reason of the many different states into 
which Greece was divided, were very numerous. These 
considerations were powerful incitements to industry and 
emulation. The frequent wars which the Greek states wag^ 



94 LETTERS Let. XL 

ed one aj^ainst another, as well as against their potent adversa- 
ly, the Persian monarch, stimulated them to the study of tac- 
tics and the practice of military discipline : so that arts 
and arms, literature and politics, were equally cultivat- 
ed, and opened numerous roads to promotion and hon- 
or. In the age immediately preceding the reign of 
Philip of Macedonia, Greece, displays the striking pic- 
ture of a country which offered every possible stimulus to 
the exertion of every faculty, and of a people making every 
effort to advance the human intellect to the higliest degree of 
perfection. In contemplating, however, the aspect of the 
world at large, we find that Greece alone afforded a prospect 
so pleasing, the rest of the world immersed in effeminate lux- 
ury, or barbaric ignorance, presented a deplorable and dis- 
gusting contrast. Persia wallowing in riches and luxury, 
studious only of ostentatious magnificence and splendid pa- 
geantry, declined from her former power and greatness as 
rapidly as Greece advanced to the meridian of her glory. 
Egypt had lost her ancient splendor, and was in subjection 
to Persia. In those countries the sciences, no doubt, were 
still cultivated ; in Persia by the magi, and in Egypt by the 
priests ; but where genius and learning are not considered as 
the means of acquiring wealth, or of obtaining honor and pro- 
motion, they generally soon decline. They seldom flourish- 
much when the national taste takes a contrary turn. Under 
a despotic government the sciences seldom flourish, unless 
when an intelligent prince sits on the throne who knows how 
to appreciate and reward genius and learning. If, however, 
the Egyptians and Persians still retained some knowledge of 
and taste for the arts and sciences, they were eclipsed in arts, 
as well as in arms, by the superior attainments of the Greeks. 
Only this remark is requisite to make, that the rise of Greece 
effecting the downfal of Persia, all our monuments of ancient 
learning have de«cend6d down to us from the former. None 
of the works of the Persian magi, or of the priests of ancient 
Egypt, or Babylon, have been transmitted to us. Lapse 
of time, and the destructive revolutions which so often 
desolated or changed the Ikcc of the ancient world, have 
produced an universal wreck ol all ancient learning, which exist- 
ed prior to the flourishiiog ?eraof Grecian literature. Whatever 
might have been the s«ate of learning among the Babyloni- 
ans, Egyptians and Persians, none of their literary monuments 



Let. XI. ON HISTORY. 0i 

have descended down to us. AH the acconnta we have of 
those nations, of their history, their political state, their reli- 
gion their scientific and literary attainments, and general man- 
ners, except such lights as are occasionally afforded relative 
to those subjects in the Hebrew Scriptures, have been 
transmitted to us through the medium of Greek writers. 
The Greeks plundered the literary treasures of all nations, 
and whatever learning they found among them they made it 
their own. Thus we have no exact criterion by which we 
can judge of the literary progress of other nations ; and of 
the vast mass of Greek science and learning, it is impossible 
to determine how much is of their own growth, and how- 
much of it was imported from abroad. Of all the nations of 
remote antiquity, the Jews are the only people whose litera- 
ry monuments have, by an extraoriJinary and providential 
combination of circumstances, descended down to modern 
times. 

Notwithstanding this universal annihilation of all the mon- 
uments of Babylonian, Egyptian and Persian literature, it ap- 
pears certain, from general circumstances, that those nations 
had made no inconsiderable advances in mental improvement. 
The learning of the Babylonians and Egyptians is often spo- 
ken of in the Scriptures. So early as in the age of Moses the 
scientific attainments of the Egyptians are spoken of, and the 
Hebrew legislator is said to have been instructed in all the 
learning of the Egyptians. And the prophet Jeremiah, in 
addressing himself to Babylon says, " Thy wisdom, and thy 
learning, hath perverted thee," &c. These, and many other 
expressions, and circumstantial hints, which may be collect- 
ed from the Hebrew Scriptures, point out the Babylonians as 
a people studious of intelleclual improvement, although plung- 
ed in superstition, and bewildered in error, like all the an- 
cient pagans whose religion was not under the light and gui- 
dance of Divine revelation, and whose philosophy was whol- 
ly founded on conjecture, and not on experiment. As to 
the Egyptians, the Greeks themselves are not ashamed to be- 
stow the highest encomiums on their philosophy and learn- 
ing. The magnificent remains of Thebes do not more 
strongly attest the ancient splendor of Egypt, than the ruins 
of Persepoiis prove that Persia was once the seat of the arts, 
and of elegant magnificence ; and if the literary productions 
of the Persians had passed down to us^ like those of the 



96 LETTERS Let. XL 

Greeks, we should have not only juster ideas, but, perhaps, 
a higher opinion of the state of intellectual improvement 
among the former than we commonly accustoi/i ourselves to 
entertain. The fatal issue of their last contest with Greece, 
ho\¥ever, after making every allowance for Greek partiality 
and national prejudice, demonstrably proves the bad state of 
their political administration and military discipline. One 
grea.t fault in the Persian system of government was, the di- 
vision of their empire into a number of unconnected and al- 
most independent governments, the governors of which attend- 
ed only to the affairs of their own provinces, without think- 
ing themselves obliged to take any measures for the general 
safety of their empire, of which the history of their traiisac- 
tions with the Greeks furnishes many instances ; and all their 
military operations, in the war against Alexander, evidence 
the greatest unskilfulness in tactics, as well as the greatest re- 
laxation of discipline. Their numerous armies seemed to 
march to a parade rather than to battle, every thing in their 
equipment being calulated more for ostentatious shew, than 
for real utility. 

If we leave the affairs of the Greeks and Persians, the two 
principal nations which command our notice during the peri- 
od we are now contemplating, and cast a glance on the Jews 
and Romans, we see the former a tributary people under the 
Persian monarchy, enjoying their own laws and religion, and 
living peaceably under its protection ; the Romans had lived 
under a monarchical government during the space of 245 
years from the foundation of their city, during which time se- 
ven kings had successively swayed the sceptre ; but the Ro- 
mali monarchy seems always to have been under limitations, 
and the senate and people were not without some share of the 
government. Having expelled the last of their kings, Lucius 
Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, or the Proud, on account 
of the rape committed by his son on Lucretia, a Roman lady, 
as well as for various other acts of despotism and oppression, 
they had established a republican government about A. C. 
508, about twenty-eight years before the invasion of Greece 
by Xerxes, and one hundred and seventy-nine years before 
the subversion of the Persian empire by Alexander. The 
Romans had already begun to aggrandize themselves by war 
and conquests, but their conquests were as yet but of small 
extent and importance. It was long before they extended 



Let. XI. ON HISTORY. %r 

their dominions far beyond the environs of their mud-^fJi^d 
city ; and at the time when Alexander conquered the F :•-- 
sian empire, the Roaisn territory did not consist of a inL« I: 
greater part of Italy than the present Camp.\2,iila di Roma ; 
and Rome, afterwards the mistress oi the worid, was not then 
considered of any importance in the polificai scale of r,al!>,m3. 
The Romans at that period had made no progresF. m the arts, 
nor in hteratme. We hear of their orators, an«i of their spee- 
ches, but their eloquence was that of a clear and vigorous, but 
uncultivated understanding; without any of that artificial ar- 
rangement of argument and layiguage, of that studied elo- 
quence called rhetoric, so much cultivated and esteemed a- 
mong the Greeks. As [to the Jews, they have never been 
esteemed a scientific people ; but during this period they ad- 
dicted themselves to the study of philosophy, so far aa to in- 
termix many of the opinions of the oriental philosophers with 
their religious tenets. From this circumstance the two op- 
posite sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees originated, which 
were unknown during the existence of the Jewish monarch v, 
before the Babylonian captivity. Of these two celebrrited 
sects, the Sadducees pretended to adhere strictly to th?. law 
of j\Joses, while the Pharisees, besides a number of Jtwish 
traditions, had adopted opinions which they had imbibea by 
their connections with the Babylonians and Persians, duriuji 
the time of the captivity. A third sect, called the Esbenesg, 
had also risen among the Jews. The celebrated historian, 
Flavins Josephus, gives a circumstantial detail of the pa* tic- 
ular tenets of those Jewish sects. 

After this attempt to trace a picture of the political, moral, 
and intellectual world, as it appeared among the Persians, the 
Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans, during the period which 
elapsed bet wen the reigns of those two celebrated conquer- 
ors, Cyrus, and Alexander, and which comprised the whole 
duration of the Persian empire, it is requisite lo turn our eyes 
upon the general state of the most remarkable countries of the 
modern world, during this interesting period of antiquity. 
All Europe, except Greece, and a very small part of Itniy, 
was then imnoticed and unknown. The countries novy o 
flourishing in arts and arms, where all the useful and ornaK;- r.= 
tal sciences are brought to so high a state of pert'ec(i(^n, 'v^ ere 
every branch of literature is so assiduously cultivated, wh^^e 
all the channels of commerce are so indusinously expioreti, 

I 



98 LETTERS Let. XL 

where every elegance of social life is to be found, where luxury 
reigns in all its variety of forms, where large and populous ci- 
ties abound, and where universities and academies are so numer- 
ous and so flourishing ; those countries which now send forth 
their fleets to collect the productions of every climate, and 
establish colonies on the farthest shores of the globe, were 
yet immersed in savage obscurity, and as little known to the 
then civilized world as the deserts of Arabia and Tartary, or 
the interior parts of Africa, are to us at this day. This was 
the state of the countries of greatest note in the iriodern 
world, at a period when Greece had attained to the summit of 
her splendor, and when her ingenious inhabitants had made 
so astonishing a progi^ess in the various departments of hu- 
man knowledge When Athens was the seat of science and lit- 
erature, abounding in seminaries of learning, and crowded with 
philosophers, orators, legislators, and heroes, London and 
Paris, at this time the two central points of all that is great 
and elegant, were iiothing but woody swamps ; and if any of 
the human species made those places their residence, they 
were only savages wandering in those then desert wildernes- 
ses, at that time totally unknown to civilized m.an. What a won- 
derful change ! In the age of Philip and Alexander, Italy^ 
Spaio, and France, were to Greece what America is to us ; 
and all the rest of Europe, unless, perhaps, the southern 
coasi of Britain, was as little known as America was in the 
days of Columbus, and as New Zealand is at this time. Ger- 
many, Poland, Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, were then 
nothing but an immense extent of woods and v»^ildernesses, 
of vast and impassable morasses and trackles deserts, in- 
iiabited by beasts of prey, or men in the most savage state of 
uncultivated riatare, not superior to the inost uncivilized 
tribes discovei ed in America, New Zealand, and the other 
.islands in the South Seas, by our late voyagers and circum- 
navia;ator3. What a wonderful chmige has time produced ! 
lugypt, where xhe rudirneiits of arts and sciences were in- 
veiiied, ivhere philosophy was first studied, where civil poli- 
ty was first reduced to a regular system, where human gran- 
deur v/as displayed lu evecy variety of form ; and Greece, 
where ^lie learning of Egypt was improved, corrected, and 
Riethodized, and where e\ery art and science that could em- 
bellish a nation, and improve the human intellect, was carried 
fo a degree of perfection, whicii has excited the admiration cf 



Let. XL ON HISTORY. 99 

all succceexling ages, are now plunged in fbe grossest baibar 
ity and ignorance, and their magnificent edifices laid in ru- 
ins. Even the situation of some of the largest and most cele- 
brated cities of the ancient world cannot, at this time be ascer= 
(ained. Nineveh, so long the capital of the Assyrian empire, 
and Babjion, " the glory of nations and the beauty of the 
Chaldees' excellency,""^ have long ago been so complefely 
annihilated, that it can not be exactly determined where they 
stood ; and as to the celebrated city of Memphis, long the 
metropolis of Egypt, and the royal residence of the Pha- 
raohs, although we have the most unquestionable evidence 
of its extent, which some say was seventeen, and others nine- 
teen miles in circuit, as also of its strength and magnificence, 
yet the most curious antiquarians and geographers are not 
able to ascertain the place of its situation. Scarcely any cir- 
cumstance of ancient geography has been more critically dis- 
cussed, or given rise to a greater variety of opinions, than the 
situation of this celebrated city. Modern travellers, as Dr. 
Pocock, Capt. Norden, and Mr. Savary, and many others, 
have attempted to solve the diflScully ; and each of iheiii 
have given plausible reasons for his own hypothesis, williout 
being able to come to any agreement among themselves. We 
are assured by the concurrent testimonies of all ancient au- 
thors who have mentioned Memphis, that it stood on the 
west side of the Nile ; but while some of the moderns suppose 
it to have been situated where Gize now stands, opposite to 
Cairo, others place its situation fifteen, and others seventeen 
miles further to the south ; and Capt. Noiden thinks the 
largest of the pyramids stood within its walls. Many other 
noted cities of the ancient world have bad a similar destiny : 
and innumerable momimenis of the grandeur and magnifi- 
cence of the Babylonians, Egyp<is.ns, Persians, Greeks, and 
Romans, now no longer exist. 1'he total annihilation of Ni- 
neveh, Babylon, and j^leinphis, sho^^'s in the most striking 
manner, the insiability of all human power and grandeiir ; and 
we cannot but contemplate with astoiiishment the fluctuating 
state of all mundane atiairs, and observe how nations rise and 
flourish, decline and fall, by the incessant operation of an in" 
explicable and closely connected chain of causes and effects 
by which the Supreme Being, in his infinite wisdom governs 
the world, connecting the whole series of events in one vast 

* Isaiah, Ch. xiii. v. 19. 



100 LETTERS Let. XH. 

and eternal plan, infinitely beyond our comprehension, al- 
Lhoagh undoubtediy consistent with the most perfect har- 
mci\y. 

Concluding with those reflections, I beg leave to assure 
ymi thaty with unfeigned respect, 

I am, dear Sir, yours, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER Xil. 



DEAR SIR, 



HAVING ta^en a cursory retrospect of aii interesting pe- 
riod in the history of the world, and of the human mind, we 
now proceed to the contemplation of one stiil more import- 
ant, as it approaches somewhat nearer to a prospect of the 
modern world. The period, on which we now enter, is that 
ivhich commenced at Alexander's death, and ended a the 
birth of Christ. At the commencement of this period, we 
see all the known parts of Asia, which had consituted first 
the Assyrian and Babylonian ; and in the next place, the 
Persian empire ; as also Greece, the only civilized and scien- 
tific country of Europe, under the absolute government of a 
Greek military force; Rome, a rising and warlike state, and 
the rest of Europe, in respect of Greece, what Aoterica is 
now to Europe. A new scene now begins to open. The 
Roman power begins to predominate ; and the viclories of 
Rome were the means of civilizing and instructing ail that 
part of Europe, which lies south of the Danube, and west of 
the Rhine. In proportion, as we leave the shades of anti- 
quity farther behind, the prospect brightens and grows clear- 
er : the view of transactions, and of manners, becomes more 
luminous, and the scene begins to be removed nearer home. 
In this portion of history, the convulsions which shook the 
world, through the restless ambition of Alexander's succes- 
sors, hold a distinguished place. During the greatest part 
of this period, the transactions of the political world consti- 
tuted two distinct and important scenes, which were display- 
ed on two different theatres. In the east, the unceasing 
wars carried on by Alexander's generals, and their sueces- 



; Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 101 

sors, aaiong themselves, convulsed all Greece and the wes- 
tern CO SIR hies of Asia ; while in the west the insatiable and 
enterprising ambilion of Rome agitated all the best parts of 
Europe, especially in her long and desperate contest with 
her great rival the republic of Carthage. The reciprocal 
hostilities, the jarring interests, the irreconcilable animosi- 
ties, and multiplied crimes of the Macedonian generals, and 
the successors of their usurpations, are suiRciently detailed 
bj historians. A concentrated view of the conduct and des*- 
tinj of the principal of those usurpers will suffice to excite 
reflections, without which the reading of history is only ao 
idle and useless employment. 

As soon as Alexander's eyes were closed, the principal 
commanders held a consultation on the state of public affairs. 
Ptolemy voted that the empire should be governed by a 
sovereign council of the generals, and every thing relating to 
the administration be determined by a majority in that coun- 
cil ; while some moved that Perdiccas should be elected 
king. In this unsettled state of affairs Aridsus, son of Phi- 
lip, but not by Olympias, and consequently half brother of 
Alexander, was elected king by the array, and the generals 
were obhged to ratify the election* Perdiccas and Leonatus 
then issued out of Babylon and put Meleager to death, for 
exciting the army to the election of Aridaeus. They then 
mustered the army near Babylon^ and made themselves mas- 
ters of the king's person. A new council of the general* 
was then held, in which they divided the government of 
the empire among themselves, leaving Arida3Hs only the ti- 
tle of king, and placed Perdiccas over him, with the title 
of protector. Antipater, whoni^the council had made gov- 
ernor of Macedonia, reduced Greece, which had revolted 
from their government, placed a garrison in Athens, abolish 
ed the popular form of its government, and placed the ad- 
ministration in the hands of about nine thousand men of d'is« 
tinction and property; thus establishing an aristocracy, in 
stead of the former democratical system. He deprived the 
people of all right of suffrage, and removed numbers of ihem 
into Thrace. Antipater put the celebrated orator, Demost- 
henes, to death. Seeing his death determined, that great 
man asked leave to retire a few moments to write something. 
and seizing that opportuoiiyj took poison^ which he had rea- 
dy prepared. 

I a 



i02 LETTERS Let. XIL 

The restless ambition of the generals, however, was not 
long before it began to produce the most direful effects, and 
to convulse every part of the empire. Ptolemy, Antipater, 
and Craterus, commenced a war against Perdiccas, who in- 
vaded Egjpt, which was Ptolemj's government, and was 
slain by his own soldiers. He was the first of the Macedo- 
nian generals who fell in those civil wars, and his death was 
soon followed by that of Craterus, who was slain in battle 
against Euraenes. Antipater was, after the death of Per- 
diccas, made Protector, and took the king and queen and 
carried them into Macedonia, leaving Antigonus governor, 
or lieiiieiranf, of the Asiatic part of the empire. Antipater 
died at the age of eighty: he was a man of letters, and had 
been a scholar of Aristotle. Polippey con was then chosen 
protector; but Cassander, the son of x4.ntipater, immediately 
rebelled against him. Polippercon restored the democratic 
goveniiiient of Ai hens, and the other cities of Greece, and 
caused most of the Aiisfocratic party to be put to death, 
llius was Greece alternately a prey to aristocratic oppres- 
sion and popular licentiousness, iqider the tyranny of the 
Macedonian usurpers of Alexander's Empire. The next in- 
testiiie commotions, was a war between Antigonus and En- 
menes, in v;hich Eumenes, after performing the most heroic 
actions in the field, and displaying all the talents of a con- 
summate general, was betrayed by the regiment of Argyr- 
aspides,^or silver shields, into the hands of Antigonus, who 
put him to death. During these tran*^actions Olympias, the 
motlier of Alexander the Great, bavins; taken Kins Aridtens, 
and Eiiriuice, liis Queen, put them both to death, and ap- 
pointed young Alexander, gon of Alexander and Roxanaj 
heir to the empire. Cassander then undertook an expedi- 
tion against Olympias, who, with Roxana, her young son 
Alexander, and the whole court, shut them themsehes up 
in Pydisa. Olympias was obliged to surrender herself to 
Cassander, and at his instigation was tried and condemned in 
a great council of Macedonian oiScers, and put to death in 
pursuance of the fentence there passed on her; a just pun- 
ishment for her multiplied crimes of ambition and cruelty. 
Thus fell, by the hand of the executioner, the wife of Phi- 
lip of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great. 

Antigonus having, by the treachery of the Argyraspides 
accomplished the destruction of his prudent and valiant ri'- 



Let. XIL ON HISTORY. 103 

val Eumenes, made himself master of all Media and Persia, 
slew Python, and diove Seleiicus from Babylon ; but his 
sudden and extraordinary aggrandizement raised against hina 
a potent confederacy of the other generals. Ptolemy, Cas- 
Sander, and Seleucus, united their forces to reduce the ex- 
orbitant power of Antigonus, who, about this time, assumed 
the title of king, in which he was imitated by Ptoiomy, Se- 
leucus, and Lysimachus; thus the Greek, or Macedonian 
empire, which subsisted, in reality, no longer, than the life 
of ALlexander, now lost even its nominal existence, and was 
split into several independent and hostile kingdoms. 

The confederacy just mentioned, however, proved fatal 
to Antigonus. Seleucus recovered Babylon and the coun- 
tries of the upper Asia ; An+igonus having gotten into his hands 
Cleopatra, sister of Alexandei the Great, who was to be es- 
poused to Ptolemy, put that princess to death, lest Ptolemy 
should derive any advantage fvom such an alliance with the fam- 
ily of Alexander, whose memory was dear to the Macedonian 
soldiery. Thus did those usurpers carefully endeavour to 
extirpate the whole family of their late victorious master. 
The v*-ar being carried forwards by the confederate princes 
against Antigonus, Lysimachus entered also into the confed- 
eracy, and Antigonus was slain at the battle of Issus, near the 
city of Ephesus, which he fought against the united forces 
of Seleucus and Lysimachus. Thus fell this ambitious and 
restless usurper, at the age of about eighty, Cassander dy- 
ing in Macedonia, his son Alexander was put to death by 
Demetrius Poliocertes, son of 4.ntigonus ; and his other son 
Antipater, was also put to death by Lysimachus, whose 
daughter he had married. Lysimachus after this put to death 
his own son Agathocles, v/hose wifa and children fled to Se- 
leucus for protection, and prevailed on him to commence a 
v,'c5r against Lysimachus. In this ^^ar Lysimachus and his 
fifteen children, all perished by different accidents. Lysi- 
machus himself, at the age of seventy-four, fell in battle 
against Seleucus. After the overthrow and death of Lysi- 
machus, Seleucus passed over into Europe, to take posses- 
jsion of Macedonia, where he was treacherouSy murdered,^e- 
ng then about seventy-four or seventy-fivp years of age. 
Thus fell, by assassination, Seleucus, the last of those gene- 
rals, who had been trained to arms under Philip of Macedonia, 
and had accompajaied Alexander in his extrao^rdinary and sug- 



104 LETTERS Let. XIL 

cessful career of conquest. Ptolemy died in Eg-ypt some 
time before the death of Seleucus. He was not only a war- 
like, but a humane and mimificent prince, and was the only 
one of Alexander's generals , who outrode the storms which 
incessantly rose in the political horizon of that lempestuous 
age ; for, Antipater died of mere old age, just at the com- 
mencement of those intestine commotions, and consequently 
did no! experience much of their direful effect. 

Scarcely any period of the history of mankind exhibits a 
more striking picture of the dreadful effects of the human 
passions, than the age immediately following the death of 
Alexander. The generals who had served under him, and 
afterwards seized on his empire, although their dominions, 
were sufficiently extensive and opulent to make thesa all great 
and powerful monarchs, were so infatuated, as to sacrifice to 
a restless ambition, and insatiable avarice, all the tranquillity 
and happiness of their own lives, and to render all the coun- 
tries, situated w'ithin their sphere of action, a vast theatie of 
bloodshed and crimes. They not only extirpated the whole 
family of Philip and Alexander, but continually sought, and 
at last, partly by open force, and partly by treachery, ac- 
complished each other's destruction. 

Perhaps there has scarcely been a situation on the mo- 
ral theatre of the world more novel and interesting than that 
of those Macedonian generals, who seized on Alexander's 
dominions. Thev had been trained to arms under Phiiio, 
and had seen Macedonia, which till that time, had been an 
obscure and unnoticed kingdom, emerge from that abject state, 
acting a conspicuous part in the political world, and gaining 
a decided ascendency over all Greece. They had been the 
partners of Philip's warlike toiL, and had expected to par- 
take of his glory in the conquest of Persia. They had wit- 
nessed the untimely fall of their politic and warlike master, 
and seen his vast projects executed by his son. They had 
been principal actors under Alexander, in the conquest of 
the Persian empire, and following his victorious standard, had 
penetrated into Bactria and India, countries hitherto un- 
known to the Greeks. They had seen the unexpected death 
of their conquering leader, and the termination of all his am= 
bitious projects. They had seen his extensive conquests 
fall into their own hands, and, from poor Macedonian officers, 
had become sovereign princesj and each of them acquired 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 105 

kingdoms for themselves, more wealthy and extensive than 
that cf Macedonia. They had launched into a new world, 
and their tor tune had exceeded their most sanguine hopes, 
but did not procure for them, in the latter part of their lives, 
that tranqiiiilitj and repose, which age and a life of long con- 
tinued labo-irs, seemed to require. Their mutual animosities 
and ceaseless hostilities embittered the remaining part of their 
lives ; and after all their brilliant career of conquest, th^y 
passed their old age in scenes of danger, tumult, and carnage; 
and few of them descended to the grave in peace: exhibit- 
ing to posterity a memorable example of the dreadful effects 
of lawless and insatiable ambition. 

Wiien we reflect on this grand enterprise of Alexander, 
and his brilliant conquest of the Persian empire, we cannot 
but observe, that it was scarcely less disastrous and fatal to 
the conquerors than to the conquered, whether considered 
in its national consequences, or in its effects, in regard to the 
individuals principally concerned in it. Considered in a na- 
tional view, the untimely death of Alexander, the dismem- 
berment and partition of liis empire among the Macedonian 
generals, and their unceasing hostilities, agitated those coun- 
tries with continual commotions, and entailed innumerable 
evils upon the people. The Greeks, in particular, being com- 
pelled to follow the fortunes of those rival usurpers, as dif- 
ferent circumstances required, v;ere, more than any others, 
exposed to the horrors of war, to repeated subjugations, ty- 
ranny, and oppression ; and suffered at least as much from 
the tyranny of their own countrymen, as they might have ex- 
pected to suffer from (he Persians, if they had conquered 
Greece. If we consider the consequences of this memorable 
conquest, in regard to the individuals who accomplished it, 
we see it decidedly fatal to the tranquillity of their future lives. 
A (ew of the principal commanders indeed, gratified their 
ambition by usurping the sovereign power and regal title : 
but their crowns proved to them crowns of thorns. Harassed 
by continual and bloody wars among themselves, and stran- 
gers to that repose which the evening of a life spent in war- 
like toils imperiously required, the greatest part of them fell 
by war or treason, and their hoary heads descended to the 
grave Avith blood. That invincible army of brave and war- 
like veterans, which Philip had trained and Alexander led 



106 LETTERS Let. XIL 

into Asia, was worn out in fruitless hostilities, and few of the 
brave soldiers, who achieved the conquest of Persia, ever 
returned to their native country. Such was the fate of those 
gallant veterans who conquered the Persian empire. 

The succeeding history of the kingdoms, into which the 
empire of the Greeks, in Europe and Asia, was divided, ex- 
hibits a most disgusting scene of hostilities and treasons, of 
misfortunes and of crimes, until they fell successively under the 
dominion of the Romans. Of all those different kingdoms, 
that of Egypt, founded by Ptolemy Lagus, who, in the gen- 
eral partition of Alexander's empire, seized on that country, 
was the only one, which flourished in a state of permanent 
stability. Under the reign of the Ptolemies, Egypt recover- 
ed her ancient splendor, and the celebrity she had acquired 
under the Pharaohs, her ancient and native princes. Alex- 
andria became what Thebes and Memphis once had been, 
and even rivalled Athens, in the number and celebrity of her 
schools of philosophy and literature. In the reign of Ptole- 
my Philadelphus, the second prince of the Grecian dynasty, 
the Sacred Scriptures of the Jews first made their appear- 
ance in a foreign language. That illustrious encourager of 
learning, desirous of collecting the whole mass of human know- 
ledge, employed intelligent and learned men, to procure 
books from all parts where they could be found ; and, at his 
particular request, 72 learned Jews were sent A. C, 282, 
from Jerusalem to translate the scriptures into the Greek lan- 
guage, which was the language of Alexandria, the Egyptian 
being then spoken only by the vulgar in that country. The 
particulars relative to this celebrated translation are circum- 
stantially related by Flavius Josephus, who being of the sa- 
cerdotal order, and a person of authority and rank, without 
doubt, had access to the archives of the Jewish nation, 
and consequently had every opportunity of being well ac- 
quainted with the transaction, which would undoubtedly be 
recorded in the annals of that nation at Jerusalem, as well as 
in the archives of Alexandria. This translation is called 
the Septuagint, and was always held in great repute 
among the primitive Fathers, as well as among many modern 
tlieologians and critics. Ptolemy Philadelphus is deserved- 
ly celebrated as one of the greatest promoters of learning 
mentioned in history ; and from his exertions, in so laudable 
a pursuit, he ha^ derived more glory than can accrue fro^» 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. lOr 

the sanguinary career of conquest. He i« said to have col« 
lected a library of 500,000 volumes ; and his reign forms a 
memorable epoch in the annals of literature. 

If from Egypt we turn our attention to the Jews, the affairs 
of that nation affords a view of some interesting events dur- 
ing this period. The deliverance of that people from the 
tyranny and oppression of the Greeks, by the unexampled 
bravery and^ patriotism of Judas Maccabeus, and his valiant 
brethren and followers, is a transaction as glorious as any per- 
formed by the most illustrious heroes of Greece and Rome. 
It originated from the noblest motives, and every circum- 
stance considered, was a more arduous task, and consequent- 
ly more glorious, than the conquest of the Persian empire by 
Alexander, or, perhaps, than all the achievements of Caesar. 
Those conquerors had always to contend with enemies, 
whose forces, however numerous, were far inferior to their 
own in military discipline and tactical skill ; but Maccabeus 
and his brethren entered on a most important and dangerous 
contest, with an enemy not only superior in numbers, but be- 
yond all comparison superior in discipline, and the science of 
tactics ; and by a persevering ceurage, which no difficulties 
could daunt, effected the deliverance of his country from po- 
litical and religious oppression. Judas nobly fell, after hav- 
ing accomplished his grand object, and his family pursuing 
their advantages wiih unremitting perseverance and exertion, 
established the independence of their country, and changed 
its government from a feeble and unsettled republic to a vig- 
orous and flourishing nsonarchy ; for John Hyrcanus, the 
son of Simon Maccabeus, uniting in his person the offices of 
high priest, and generalissimo of the army, and in his mind 
all the talents appropriated to the pontifical, military, and 
regal characters, having been victorious over the enemies of 
his country, and firmly established his government, his sons 
successively assumed the title as well as the power of kings ; 
and the high-priesthood also remained in the same family, 
although not in the person of the monarch. The descend- 
ants of Hyrcanus are distinguished in the history of the Jew^- 
hh nation, by the appellation of the Asnionean dynasty. The 
dissentions of this family at last terminated in the capture of 
Jerusalem by Pompey and the subjection of the Jewish na- 
tion to the Rom-ans. After this event we again see the Jewish 
monarchy re-established by the favour, and under the pro- 



lis LETTERS Let. XII. 

tection, of the Romans, who placed Herod the Great, the 
son ot Anlipater, the Idiimean, on the throne of David. 
Tills pvhice took down the old te;nple of Jenisaleni, and re- 
built it again in the most magnificent manner, and rei2;ned 
with great splendor, but with almost unparalleled tyranny. 
H^rod was a prince of great and splendid talents, but uncon- 
scientious and unfeelinM-, as may justly be conchided from 
his putting to death his beautiful and beloved wife Mari- 
ainne, and his two sons, princes of the mosi brilHant accom- 
plishdienls, and the most promising talents. He had also 
condemned to death his favourite son Antipater, but 
his own death prevented the execution of the sen- 
tence. The narration of this prince's cruelties may be seen 
at large in Joseph us, who paints in glowing colours, the 
treasons and cabals of his court, and describes, in nervous 
and elegant language, his unquiet and troublesome reign ; 
presenting posterity with a long detail of his domestic un-; 
happiness, and his crimes. Indeed, of all the princes whose 
names are recorded in history, Herod seems to have expe- 
rienced the greatest portion of doinestic infelicity. Within 
a short time after the death of Herod, Judea having under- 
gone different changes in its form of government, was re- 
duced to a Roman province, in which state it was at the con- 
clusion of the period we are now contemplating. 

During the whole of this period, which elapsed between 
the death of Alexander and ths coming of Christ, the ra- 
pid progress of the Romans, in arts and arras, in the aggran- 
dizement of power, the acquisition of wealth, and the ex- 
tension of dominion, constitutes the most conspicuous feature 
in the political aspect of the world, and the most important 
and interesting subject of history. In the age of Alexander 
we have seen the Roman territory comprised within a small 
part of Italy, and it would require volumes to detail the long 
series of wars and conquests, which exalted Rome to that 
pitch of power and glory, to which she afterwards attained ; 
but, upon a general view, we shall find the most powerful 
cause, under Divine Providence, to have been the strict and 
unremitting attention ever paid by the Romans to the most 
rigorous military dicipline, and their study of every particu- 
lar relative to the tactical science, joined to vigorous and de- 
cisive measures in their councils. The arts of v/ar and elo- 
quence were, during a long time, the only arts cultivated 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 1^9 

anu held in repute by the Romans ; and during the whole 
period of the exisieiice of (he republic, [hetoiic and the ajii- 
itaiy art v»eie the grand objerts of Roman sti.uy, as tliey 
were the only meaniS of acquiring honour and fame, the sole 
objects of Roman pr.rsr.it. Ainbition, not avarice, was the 
rnhng passion among the Romans, and cob sequent! j coai- 
merce was not held in high esteem, nor much aKended to. 
Conquest was the object of their pnrsult, and war their em- 
ployment. Every citizen v/as a soklier, and the linited 
time of their military service was ten j ears. The manner 
of their encampments, the regularity of their dicipline, and 
the whole system of their tactics, are ciirioos subjects of in- 
vestigation. An account of all these things may be met with 
in ancient authors, and no classical student can be unacquaint- 
ed with them. One particular characteristic of the Roman 
republic is, that ill fortune, disaster, and defeat, never had 
any intimidating effect on its councils. Roman courage al- 
ways rose superior to the difSciilties it had to encounter. 
Of this, their grand contest v/ith the rival republic of Carthage, 
'one of the most remarkable, important, and obstinate, record- 
ed in history, affords repeated and signal instances. The 
Romans, although reduced to the last extremity, never lost 
their courage, nor relaxed any thing in their efforts. When 
pressed on every side by Hannibal, who had given their ar- 
mies the most signal defeats, and ravaged their territories to 
the very gates of Rome, no pusillanimous measures were 
adopted in the senate ; every possible exertion was ffiade, 
and no thought of submitting to an ignominious peace was 
ever entertained. 

It has generally been supposed, that Hannibal committed 
a great error in not assauhing Rome, immediately after his 
signal victory at Cannra ; and historians, echoing one anoth- 
er's assertions, have confidently told us, that Hamiii rd 
Isnew how to gain victories, but not how to make use of 
them. Every schoolboy is acquainted with this stjs:rrr^ on 
the character of one of the greatest generals that ever ex.;t- 
ed in any age or nation. We ought not however, rashly to 
censure the conduct of so disiinguished a military cbeuactcr. 
The plan of operations might be determined by causes un- 
known to those who have related the circumstances. 1 he 
success of military operations depends on a rauiii'ade of cir- 
cumstances, many of which may seem trivial to such persiuas 

K 



no LETTERS Let, XII. 

as are not concerned in the atfair, or are not perfectly ac- 
quainted with the nature of the case ; and conseq'ientlv it is 
impossible to form a right judgment of circiunstances, and 
motives of action, after the lapse oi many centmies. As tar, 
however, as we are authorized hy hisloiical represerktaiion, 
of existing circumstances, to judge of IlannibarB coiiduct, 
in this yery important particular, he may reasorjatij be ex- 
culpated of the charge of cowardice or oveisigiit, in neglect- 
ing the advantages which his victory at CanoDe may seem to 
have afforded him. After such a baltie, fought against such 
troops a«? the Roman legions, it cannot be supposed, but his 
ar Jiy, although victorious, must have exceedingly suffered. 
By the dreadful carnage on the side of the Romans, we may 
justly conclude that of the Carthaginians to have been very 
coiiaiderable. Rome, although at that time inconsiderable 
ID comparison of what it afterwards became, was, notwith- 
standing, even then a large, strong, and populous city, and 
the inhabitants prepared to die with their swords in their 
hands. Those, who are skilled in military atfairs, are the 
best able to decide the question, whether it would haye been 
prudent in Hannibal to have attempted, with the remains of 
a shattered army, to storm such a city, defended by such 
citizens ; and whether he would have either given the as- 
sault, or commenced a siege, with any great probability of 
success. However, Hannibal's leaving Rome behind, and 
putting his army into winter quarters at Capua, whatever 
were iiis motives, are comm.only assigned as the causes of 
the subsequent ill success of the Carthaginian arms ; but it is 
much more reasonable to presume, the true cause of their 
disasters originated from the intrigues and cabals of the fac- 
tion of Hannibal's enemies in the senate of Carthage, whose 
hatred agsinst that illustrious commander, predominated over 
the love of their country,^ and w^ho w^ere better pleased to 
have tlieir armies defeated, than to see them victorious under 
his banners. Had not this faction acquired a predominating 
itifioence in the senate of Carthage, there is every reason to 
believe, that the Roman power w^ould, in that war, have been 
toiaily annihilated. Less could scarcely have been expect- 
ed from a general, whose courage and prudence had crowned 
him w^ith laurels ; whose signal achievements had rendered 
him master of ahnost all Italy ; whose whole military career 
has made Ixim be esteemed tlie greatest general of all antiqui- 



Let. XIL ON HISTORY. 1 11 

ty, and who had sworn upon the altar an irreconcileable en- 
mity to Rome. 

Divine Providence, however, had not decreed the ex 
tinction of the Roman name. The enemies of Hannibal 
gained every day a more decided predominancy in the Car* 
thaginian senate. Notv^ilhstanding his repeated and pressing 
sohcifations, no re-enforcements were sent him ; the fortune 
of the war v/as consequently soon changed. The Romans, 
adopting the most vigorous measures, invaded Africa ; and, 
although so lately in the most imminent danger of being at- 
tacked in their own capital, suddenly appeared before that 
of the enemy. Hannibal, who a little time before had ad- 
vanced to the gates of Rome, v/as recalled from Italy to pro- 
tect the walls of Carthage, and defeated by Scipio at the 
memorable battle of Zama, A. C. 251, which terminated the 
power and greatness of the Carthaginian repubhc ; for ihe 
Carthaginians being compelled to submit to the most disad- 
vantageous conditions of peace, could never more rise to that 
power they had once possessed. This was iiie termination 
of the second Punic war. Ev^ry one knows that the result 
of the third was fatal to Carthage. That great and flourish- 
ing city was totally destroyed, and her dominions were re- 
duced to a Roman province. Until that memorable epochj 
Heme had made continual, but slow advances towards pow- 
er and greatness. Her whole territory at first did not ex- 
ceed twenty -five miles in circuit; and when Alexander con- 
quered the Persian empire, 422 years after the foundaticrs of 
Rome, 179 years after the expulsion of the Roman kines,. 
and about 830 years before Christ, the whole Roman- do- 
minions, as has been already observed, scarcely extended,. 
mu^h farther thmi ihe limits or the pi esent Campagna. 
And it was not until A. C. 282, and 488 years afterfhe 
building of Rome, that the Romans first carried their arms 
beyoiid the confines of Italy. 

Afier the subjection of Cai ha^^e, in the second Punic war,. 
Rome had no longer any rival, und victorious in every quar- 
ter she carried all before her. Macedonia, with all Greece, 
and the Grecian kingdoms of Asia, successively fell under 
her dominion, and she extended her empire from the Eu- 
phrates to the Atlantic ocean, and from the Rhine and ihe 
Danube to the deserts of Arabia and Africa, comprising 
within her territories the whole civilized and then knov^o 



112 LETTERS Let. XII. 

world. From that time, imtil the decline of the empire, 
the history of Rome is the history of the world. A 
wide field now opens itself to observation, and the reflecting 
mind may find ample matter for contemplation. The aspect 
of the world was now totally changed. The different king- 
doms and states, which, during a long succession of aoes, had 
feeen fluctuating with incessant revolutions, rising, falling, and 
aubjugatingone another, were now swallowed up in one mighty 
and extensive empire. But Rome, now mistress of the world, 
was soon rent with intestine commotions. The cause from 
which those evils seem to have originated was coeval with 
Rome itself, or at least with the republican government. 
This was ao odious distioction, which divided the Roman citi- 
zens into two distinct and unconnected bodies, the Patricians 
and Plebeians, or, as weshouldt erm them in modern languagej 
the aristocratic aad democratic classes. Romulus, immediately 
after the building of Rome had constituted the senate, but the 
people had also their rights ; and it appears, that the rights 
and privileges of the senate and people, as well as the royal 
prerogative, were clearly designed, although it is difficult, at 
this distance of time, exactly to discriminate and ascertain 
the rights of the king, senate, and people. The Roman 
writers, it is true, have pretended a considerable degree of 
accuracy in those particulars ; but it is somewhat questiona- 
ble, whether the historians, who lived in the polished ages 
of Rome, could obtain such particular information, relative 
to these subjects, as they pretend to transmit to posterity. 
It is certain, that the annals of Rome, in her primeval state, 
were very defective, as the first Romans were an unlettered 
people ; and the use of letters, was, in all probability, intro- 
duced among them by Numa Porapiliiis, their second king. 
Historical evidence does not authorize any reasonable sup- 
position, that either Romulus, or his subjects, possessed any 
knowledge of literature. On the expulsion of the kings, and 
the establishment of the republican gOAerimient, the two 
classes of citizens, the Patricians and Plebeians, were so com,- 
pletely separated, and the line of demarcation, between their 
respective privileges and rights was drawn with such pu.nc- 
tilious accuracy, as to constitute them two distinct bodies, 
whose interests were diametrically opposite. All the offices 
of the republic were appropriated to the Patrician families, 
but the people had the privilege of electing to those offices. 



%m.XlL ON HISTORY. 113 

The Plebeians, however, soon saw themselves excluded, not 
only from all the honors, but also from all the emoluments of 
the republic ; and were kept in a state of poverty, while the 
Patricians had every opportunity of acquiring large posses- 
sions. They alone and their adherents, possessed the lands 
acquired by conquest, while the Plebeians, who fought and 
bled to conquer them, were excluded from any share. By the 
nature of the Roman constitution, it appears, that what was 
conquered by the joint efforts of citizens, should have been 
equally divided among them, as none who possessed the 
property determined by the laws, were exempted from mi- 
litary service. The people perfectly understood that such 
division was their indisputable right, and an agrarian law to 
that effect was constantly the object of their aim and expec- 
tation. This, however could never be carried into effects 
Some pretext was always found by the Patricians for post- 
poning it, and the longer it was deferred, the greater difficul- 
ties arose to impede the enacting and executing of any such 
law. Indeed, after some lapse of time, when those lands 
had been long in possession of the great, an agrarian law 
could not have been carrried into execution, without pro^ 
ducing the most dreadful disorders, and throwing the state 
into confusion and anarchy. The Plebeian party, however, _ 
made repeated efforts to diminish the exorbitant power of the 
Patricians. A law was procmedj called the Licinian law, 
which prohibited any citizen to possess more than 500 acres 
of land ; but a law, so favorable to the poor, and so hostile 
to the interests of the great and opulent, was univ-ersaliy 
evaded. The first important advantage gained by the Ple- 
beian party, was a law permitting the intermarriage of the Pa- 
tricians and Plebeian^^i, which gradually lessened the distance 
between the two classes. But, above ali^ the election of tri- 
bunes to watch over the interests of the people, was the most- 
disastrous blow to the authority of the Patrician order. No 
person, who has the least acquaintance with Roman historyg 
is ignorant of the repeated, and, indeed, ahiiost continual 
struggles between the two parties. Historians have given a 
circumstantial narrative of the secession of the people to the 
Mons Sacer, the sedition of the Aventine Mount, the tumults 
excited by the Gracchi, and other popular co.nmotions. In- 
deed the history of the republic presenis hardly any thing to 
our view but a continued scene of wars abroad, and of coii' 

K2 



114 LETTERS Let. XIL 

tests at home, between the opposite classes of citizens ; and 
the termination of almost every struggle was in favour of the 
popular partj, till at last Caius Marius, a Plebeian, was elected 
Consul, in spite of all the opposition of the Patrician order. 
Thus the victory was, after ages of perpetual contest, at last 
decided in favor of the democratic party. Every one has 
read the evils which Patrician ambition, and popular fury 
and hcentiousness, successively entailed upon the republic, 
and which at last effected the annihilation of that form of gov- 
ernment. The bloody proscriptions of Marius, and Sylla, 
the first of the popular, the latter of the Patrician party, 
are facts of universal noioi iety. The contest, in fine, v/as 
not extinguished but ivith the extinction of the republic. 
The Patricians viewed the loss of v;hat they called their 
constitutional rights with a regret, equal to the indignation 
with which the people had long suffered the privation of 
theirs. On every election of a Consul, or other interesting 
occasion, the old animosities broke out afresh, and the two 
opposite factions exerted themselves with all their vigor. 
Each one arranged himself under their different banners as it 
best suited his interests ; and the distinction of rank was less 
regarded, than the prospect of emolument, or advantage. 
Such Pati-icians, as aimed to attain to power, through popular 
interest, espoused the Plebeian cause, and declared them- 
selves the friends of the people, while many Plebeians attach- 
ed themselves, through similar motives, to the Patrician par- 
ly. Cffisar, aitliougli of the Patrician pank, was the man of 
the people ; while Pornpey was the idol of the senate, the 
great abetter of the Patrician cause, and the powerful sup- 
porter of its interests. They were both of them at the head 
of powerful armies ; and Pompej', although older than Csesar, 
had married his ciaugiiter ; but no ties of alliance, or consan- 
guinity, can extinguish the spirit of party, oi* annihilate am- 
bifion. No one is ignorant of the termination of those un- 
happy contests, which was nothing less than the extinction 
of the liberties of the Romans ; if, indeed, a continual state 
of tumult, discord, insecurity, and compulsive military ser- 
vice, can be called liberty. This, however, is what wTiters 
have dignified with that name. After the defeat of Pompey, 
on the plains of Pharsalia, Caesar, seeing himself at the head 
©f almost the whole military force of tlie republic, soon found 
means ta overbear all opposition, and was declared perpetu- 



Let. XIL ON HISTORY. 115 

al dictator, A. C. 46; an office Trhich conferred regal power 
and authority, nnd only wanted the regal title. The last 
effort of the Patrician partj, was the assassination of Caesar 
in the senate. His nephew, Octavius, afterwards surnamed 
Augustus, and his friend, Mark Anthony, stood forth the 
avengers of his murder ; and having defeated the conspira- 
tors at Phillippi, associated Lepidus to them, and so formed 
the second Triumvirate; and Lepidus, Octavius, and Mark 
Anthony, conjointly governed the empire. The history of 
Blark Anthony, andiCleopatra, the celebrated queen of Egypt, 
not less famous for her vices than for her extraordinary beau- 
ty and brilliant accomplishments, is too well known to be 
brought forward to inspection here, any more than the trans- 
actions of the civil war between Octavius Oeesar, and Mark 
Anthony, which, ha^dng terminated in the defeat and death 
of the latter, as well as of the beautiful and accomplished 
Cleopatra, the last of the royal race of the Ptolemies, and 
the reduction of Egypt to a Roman provice ; Octavius, with- 
out either associate or rival, reigned with distinguished repu- 
tation sole emperor of the Romans. 

The singular pohcy and prudence with which Augustus 
established his sovereignty over the Romans, might serve as 
a model of political skill ; and the whole tenor of his long and 
illustrious reign shews him to have been a consummate politi- 
cian. Indeed, perhaps, never was any man more perfectly 
skilled in the art of governing mankind. Fully convinced of 
the predilection of the Romans for republican government, 
and of their attachment to republican forms, he did not en- 
deavour to abolish the offices and forms of the republic ; but 
concerted matters so well as to unite them in his own person, 
and always professing the greatest deference and respect for 
the Senate, left it only so much power as he found consist- 
ent with his own. Of all his political measures, the most mas- 
terly was, his taking upon hiuiself the government only for 
the term of ten years, at the expiration of which term he 
gave public notice of his intention to abdicate ; and, having 
dexterously managed his affairs, and made sure of a great 
majority in the Senate, at the pressing solicitations of that 
body, and of the whole Roman people, he condescended to 
reasigume the reigns of government for a second terra of ten 
years, and this farce he repeated, until he saw his govern- 
ment firmly established, and every idea of opposition effaced 
from the minds of his subjects. 



116 LETTERS Let. XH. 

Thus we have seen the discordant factions of the Patri- 
cians and plebeians, afier having long agitated the republic, 
burst forth at last into those civil wars, which convulsed eve- 
ry part of its extensive dominions, and more than once drench- 
ed Rome with the blood of her citizens, and which finally 
terminated in the extinction of the republican government, 
and the establishment of a monarchy, which seems to have 
been the most proper form of government for sc extensive an 
empire, and composed of so many different nations. If ex- 
perience, founded on facts, be admitted as a basis of reason- 
ing, monarchy, when the sceptre is in the hand of a prudent 
and benevolent prince, is preferable to a republican go^ ern- 
ment Rome made the experiment, and had no reason to 
regret the change ; for, under the equitable and pacific reign 
of Augustus, her citizens and the whole empire enjoyed more 
tranquillity and security, more political and civil happiness, 
than had ever been experienced during the whole period of 
the existence of the republic. A spectacle now exhibited 
itself which mankind had never seen before, the whole civi- 
lized world united in one vast political system. France, Ita- 
ly, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland and Belgium, Greece, 
and all the other countries which composed the whole of the 
Ottoman empire, both in Europe and Asia, with Egypt and 
all the nothern parts of Africa, which now constitute the 
empire of Morocco, and the states of Algiers, Tunis, and 
Tripoli ; all those extensive countries united in one vast etn= 
pire, and enjoying a profound tranquillity, under the govern- 
ment of an emperor, prudent, just, and pacific, who had 
the good sense to see that bis own interests, and those of 
his people were inseparable, afforded a prospect which the 
human mind must delight to contemplate, and which formed 
a striking contrast with the turbulent and unsettled state of 
the Roman world, while under the repubhcan system. His- 
torians descant in a rhetorical stile on the purer ages of the re- 
public, the liberties of the citizens, and the loss of Roman 
freedom, when Julius Caesar acquired, or, as they term it, 
usurped the sovereignty under the title of Perpetual Dictator ; 
and still more when that sovereignty was firmly established 
by Augustus ; but let us ask those declaimeis in what the 
liberty of republican Rome consisted. Was it in the com- 
pulsory enrolment of every citizenf^or ten years of military 
service, a period so considerable in the short duration of hu- 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 117 

jnan life ? Was it in the constant liability to be called out 
io those bloody and destructive wars, the narratives of which 
fill the pages of Roman history, and to be subject for so 
long a time to martial law, and all the hardships and dangers 
of railitary hfe ? Was it in tumult, civil dissentions, and par- 
ty feuds ? or was it in the privilege of disturbing their own 
tranquillity, and that of the whole world, that the boasted lib- 
erty of the Roman people consisted ? Let us not be misled 
by the florid declamations of historians. Truth may be dis- 
guised in various manners. It is not always unnecessary for 
that purpose to substitute downright falsehood : a little divert 
sity of colouring in the picture, will sometimes alter the rep- 
resentation. A little exaggeration, or misrepresentation, will, 
in some cases, have a powerful effect in creating false ap- 
pearances and inculcating erroneous ideas. In whatever co- 
lours rhetorical declamation may paint Roman liberty, under 
the republican government, the plain fact appears to have 
been, that it principally consisted in the liberty enjoyed by 
the rich of oppressing the poor ; a privilege which has, in sev^^ 
eral countries, been dignified with the sacred name of liberty. 
The whole history of the Roman republic plainly shews, 
that the principal object of the Senate, and the whole Patri- 
cian order, was the depression of the people, and to this end 
their system of politics had a constant tendency. This was 
one of the causes why the Romans were engaged in continu- 
al hostilities ; for the Senate well knew, that while the peo- 
ple were constantly engaged in foreign wars, they would be 
less attentive to their assertion of their rights. The Sen- 
ate, in order to turn the attention of the people from the con- 
templation and redress of their grievances, had only to de- 
termine on a war. The Senatus Consultum, or degree of 
the Senate, was brought before the people, whose privilege 
in was to determine finally on what was proposed by the Sen- 
atorial body. Some eloquent orator ascending the rostrum, 
harangued the citizens, painted in glowing colours the dam- 
age the republic had sustained, and the insults offered to the 
majesty of the Roman people. This was enough ; those 
high sounding expressions, the glory of 1 he republic, and the 
majesty of the Roman people, constituted the political 
charm ; the magical incantation, which operated with an irre- 
sistible influence on the minds of a brave and warlike, but 
thoughtless people, who inconsiderately voted those wars, 



118 LETTERS Let.XII. 

in which they were to fight and bleed, while their Patrician 
rulers were accumulating riches, power, and honor. Thus, 
while the supreme power of the Roman republic seemed ul- 
timately to reside in the people, they were in reality, no 
more than an engine in the hands of their rulers, who, by 
their electioneering intrigues, and the magic of their eloquent 
orations, rendered them entirely subservient to their purpo- 
ses, and as much at their disposal, as a set of puppets are at 
the commajid of the shew-master. 

At this remarkable period, when the Roman constitution 
was changed from the republican to the monarchical form ; 
when the empire had attained to its highest pitch of aggran- 
dizement and extent ; and when the world reposed, in pro- 
found tranquillity, under its powerful sway, the inquiring 
mind is naturally desirous of investigating the mannei*s of the 
Romans, and the modes of social life among those celebrated 
masters of the world. 

The state of society among the Romans, was, in many res- 
pects, extremely different from what is seen among the na- 
tions of modern Europe. In those countries, each individu- 
al not possessing property, must procure his livelihood by 
his own industry and personal exertions ; and he must also 
contribute to the support of the government which affords 
him protection. The taxes are levied either on property in 
possession, or on the different articles of necessity, conveni- 
ency, or luxury; so that every individual must contribute to 
the state in proportion, either to his possessions or expendi- 
ture. Such was also, in some measure, the financial arrange- 
ments of the Romans in regard to the inhabitants of the pro- 
vinces or conquered countries ; but the case was far differ- 
ent with those, who enjoyed the privilege of Roman citizens. 
in the infancy of Rome, her citizens were few in number, 
and her territories of small extent, consisting only of her 
seven hills, and the adjacent marshes adjoining to the Tyber. 
The state must consequently have been exceedingly poor. 
We are not, at this distance of time, able to ascertain per- 
fectly in what manner the public expenditure of the state was 
supported, during the reigns of the seven ki^gs of Rome, 
and in the primitive ages of the republic. No historical do- 
cuments now exist, which detail, with accuracy, the finan- 
cial arrangements of those early times. The Romans, bow- 
ever, at first, by slow and gradual advances, and afterwarcls. 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 119 

by the most rapid career of victory and conquest extended 
their dominions in the manner already observed ; and pro- 
vinces, and kingdoms became tributary to the republic. 
Those tributes were paid, part in specie, and part in produce. 
Sicily produced corn and wine. Egypt furnished corn ; and 
all the conquered countries transmitted a certain portion of 
their respective produce to Rome. The agrarian laws, so 
desired by the Roman people, could never be established ; 
but a part, at least, of the tributes of the conquered count] ies 
Tvas divided among the poorer class of Roman citizens. 
Fi'om the time of the defeat and capture of Perseus king of 
Macedonia, to the reign of Augustus Caesar, the Roman ci- 
tizens were entirely free from taxation. Mr. Gibbon states 
the annual amount of the tributes paid by the provinces at 
: twenty millions sterling ; but does not make it clear, wheth- 
er the corn,, wine, oil, bacon, &c. ought to be included in 
this calculation, or not. It is, however, the opinion of many 
historical critics, that the tributary provisions ought not to 
be included, and that the provinces paid above that sum in 
specie. When Rome had arrived at the meridian of her 
power, and all the countries from the Euphrates to the At- 
lantic, and from the Danube to the deserts of Africa, pour- 
ed their tributes into her coffers, the distributions were so 
copious as to suffice for the support of the poor, proud, 
and lazy citizens. A certain quantity of money, corn, 
wine, oil, bacon, and other articles, was distributed to 
those citizens, who, from the smallness of their property, 
were entitled to receive it. Those distributions, for a 
time, were made at stated periods, quarterly, monthly, 
&c. according to the exigency of circumstances ; but in pro- 
cess of time they were made daily. Public ovens were con- 
structed, and instead of quarterly, monthly, or weekly dis- 
tributions of corn, a certain quantity of bread, wine, &c. 
was delivered daily to such of the citizens as could legally 
claim it ; and thus the wants of a proud, lazy, and improvi- 
dent people were supplied. These tributary distributions 
were, undoubtedly, first brought into use by the Senate, in 
order to keep the factious multitude in humour, and to ef- 
face from the minds of the Plebeians the idea of an agrarian 
law ; and, indeed, it was a most effectual method of retain- 
' ing them in an absolute dependence on the great ; whereas 
an equal division of the lands of the republic would have 



129 LETTERS Let. XIL 

had a direct and necessary tendency to render them indepen- 
dent. The factious demagogues, who advanced themselves 
to power and honoi^r by popular favor, or had formed such 
an expectation, exeiied their influence to procure some in- 
crease in those tributary donations, so that, in process of time, 
the very poorest of the Roman citizens were exempted from 
the necessity of labour ; but (hat heterogeneous assemblage 
of people, which coiirposed the mass of the inhabitants of 
Rome, as of e^. ery otiier great raebopolis, stood in a differ- 
ent preJicapuent. These were obliged to support themselves 
by their industry, or the property they possessed. The 
labour and trade of Rome we-e almost wholly carried on by 
slaves and strangers ; and the provincial merchants, and in- 
dustrious mechanics, who resorted to Rome, and formed the 
mass of its inhabitants, frequently accumulated immense for- 
tunes. This method of supporting the poorer class of the 
Roman citizens was followed in the other cities of the em- 
phe, each of which was in this respect an epitome of the 
capital ; and although this mode of collecting and distributing 
the provincial tributes must have been exceedingly inconve- 
nient, subject to many fluctuations, and productive of te- 
dious details, it continued as long as the empire existed, or 
at least as long as it flourished. In the primitive ages of the 
republic, the clothing of the Romans, like everything else 
in Rome, w^as exceedingly plain, simple, and uniform ; a 
plain white toga was the universal dress of the Plebeians; the 
toga of the equestrian order was fringed with a narrow bor- 
der of purple ; and the Patricians were distinguished by a 
broad border of the same colour ; but the robe of the com- 
mander of their armies was entirely of purple. From this 
uniform mode of dress, in the first ages of the republic, 
there was scarcely any instances of deviation ; but in piopor- 
tion as riches increased, the varied elegances of dress kept 
pace with every other kind of luxury, until, at last, especial- 
ly under the imperial government, they exceeded all bounds. 
The employment of the grandees of Rome, was taking the air 
in the suburbs, ^vith their splendid equipages and numerous 
retinues, frequenting the theatres and other public places. 
The public baths were the principal places of resort for the 
poorest classes of the people. The public games and shews 
of the circus were a splendid amusement for all ranks, and af- 
forded ample means to the proud and lazy Romans of pass* 



Let. Xn. ON HISTOEY. 121 

)ng their time. Indeed, there was never anj other city, in 
either the ancient or modern world, which alTbrded sich 
splendid exliibilions, nor an/ other government so attenUva 
to provide amusements for its subjects. It was by those 
methods the rulers kept the peopk in humour. It was in- 
variably the policy of the Senate to keep the people contin- 
ually engaged in war abroad, and employed in aimisements 
at home! The splendor oi public games and shows, and es- 
pecially the superb triumphs of their generals and victorious 
armies, tended to hispire the Roaian people with the nsost 
exalted ideas of the grandeur of the republic ; and so long 
as they were dazzled wirh pompous exhil nitidis, sumpliions 
feasts," and brilliant diversions, and amused with the idea of 
the invincible courage of their armies, the gloiy of the re- 
public, and the majesty of the Roman people, they suffer- 
ed themselves to be governed as their rulers pleased. 

The Senate, however, in which the government was con- 
stitutionally vested, although it retained its ostensible authori- 
ty, could not, by all those artifices, retain its regal power. 
Factious leaders arose, who gained an iniliience among the 
people, which gave theoi an ascendency over the Senate it- 
self. A change of circumstances had produced a change of 
manners, which influenced tlie v;hole system of the state. 
After the spoils of Asia had enriched Rome, exorbitant 
wealth corrupted the sober mxoral^ of her ciiizeiiS, and the 
Romans were no longer tjie same people. Corruption not 
only reigned in every department of the adininistialion, but 
riches, being considiered as the means of obtj.iining the li!su- 
riesofllfe, were the object of universal pursuit. The Ro* 
mans _were no more those rigid palriols, who, at all tnnes, 
and on all occasions, were ready to sacrifice their owrrp-.!- 
vate interests to thoie of the com nonwealtb. Avarjce now 
corrupted their morals, and aiiercd dieir marnsrs ; and p.i- 
vate emolument was invariably prelened btibre the p':biic 
2[:ood. Rome, where, during lae primHive a:.:e=:, evecv thii:g 
was plain and simple, wheie notliin^ merely o; ud.i^eolal i^as 
held in esteem, but every thi;]-; ^>-piecviied accosding to its 
utility, was beco^Tie the seat of spkoior, of opukmce, arsd 
luxury, which daily increase..;, -h:. ; r' la?i ro.je (o a p!t-:h 
of which the history of the world sitfords no similar ir!2lGiK:e. 
This mixture of Asiatic laxury, wl^h Ro*;san a;vbi-56n, g-ve 
an increased vigor to the dilF^rent faciions whicli hj.a al- 

L 



122 LETTERS Let. XIL 

ways existe<] in the republic. Many of Ihe ciiizens of Rome 
equalled sovereign princes in opulence and splendor, and 
were enabled to pursue the same methods of aci» iring an influ- 
ence over the people, which the Senate had so long and so 
successfully practised ; and the heterogeneous mataS of jhe 
Roman populace were ready to follow any leader who enter« 
tained them with sumptuous feasts, and distributed large 
sums of money among a lazy and factious multitude. The 
Roman soldiery, ever ready to follow the standard of a Ma- 
lius, oi a Sylla, a Caesar or a Pompey, an Octavius or a 
Mark Anfhony, became the soldiers of a party, and devot- 
ingl themselves to the interest of some factious demagogue, 
forgot that they were citizens and soldiers of the republic. 
In this depraved state of national character and manners, it 
is no wonder that the discordant factions, which had so long 
agitated the commonwealth, at last buist forth in a volcano, 
which almost threatened the annihilation of Rom«, and ac- 
tually terminated in the extinction of the republican system 
of government. 

The Roman power, excepting* some trifling conquests, 
made under the Emperors, had attained to the zenith of its 
greatness, and the empire had acquired its full extent at 
the time when the abolition of the republican, and the es- 
tablishment of the imperial, government took place; but whe- 
ther the city had attained to its highest degree of population, 
extent, ind opulence, is somewhat problesnatical. No histo- 
rical documents exist, which determine this point ; but if we 
recV:,jon from appearances, fiom general circumstances, and 
lujiibrm experience of moral and political causes and effects, 
a<id on these principles hazard a conjecture, we may sup- 
pose th\iX the imperidi city had not reached the ultimate point 
ol its extent or population. It is not, however, improbable, 
tlratlhisi knight be the sera of her greatest opulence. Rome 
had employed near TOO years in subduing and plundering 
the work], ?.m] hdd coucentiated within her walls the accumti- 
laied weivtli of the most opulent nations. She was now 
ariivei^l at the termhration of her acquisitions, and wak in the 
(i •^t ai^e o! her dis i|>a!jon. Excepting ihe provincial trib- 
yte^, ihe ?ipoib o^ s.aiioiis had, in a great measure, ceased to 
fivvv H.'to liei Cd.'ficrs, 'dmi her arjrsies had ceased so frequent- 
ly to rsh^rn liden will? plunder. Wars now became less fre- 
quent, and tliei'e were no enemies to conquer who possessed 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 123 

any thing that could enrich the conquerors. From these cir^ 
cumstar.ces it seems reasonable to suppose, (hat (he age iiiinie' 
diately succeeding this long continued scene of this priedato- 
ry acquisition, was the time when Rome possessed the great- 
est mass of wealth. Afterwards, when tjie channels of ac- 
quisition were in a great measure exhausted, and every mode 
of dissipation and extravagant expence daily gaining ground, 
a considerable part of the wealth concentrated in Rome, 
would necessarily begin to flow back info the provinces 
which, by their industry, administered to the luxury of the 
raelropolis. The reverse is (he case in the capitals of mod- 
ern Europe. In these, commerce and wealth increase in pro- 
portion as luxury increases. But Rome v/as not commercial. 
Her wealth was not acquired by commerce, but by war and 
conquest, by rapine and spoil ; nor does it appear, that 
Rome, even in her most Nourishing and most pacific a2;es, 
was ever a very mercantile city. Alexandria was the grand 
emporium of Roman commerce. Pliny observes, how much 
the trade of India, carried on by the port of Aiex;tndri:i, «lrain- 
ed the wealth of Rome ; and it appears by a moltiplicitj of 
circumstances, that the commerce of the imperi;-] city was 
generally of such a nature as tended rather to dirninish fhiui 
augment her riches, so that, although Rome was exceedingly 
embellished, and, perhaps, enlarged under the emperors, it 
does not seem very probable that her opulence \ras ever in- 
creased after the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, or, at least, af- 
ter the reign of Augustus. And, whatever might be the con- 
dhion of the vast collective mass of people who inhabifed 
Rome, it is beyond all m.anner of doubt, that notwilhstanduig 
the immense riches of some overgrown individuals, a very 
great part of the Roman citizens were poor, as plainly ap- 
pears from the calculations which have been transmitted to us 
of the number of poor ciijzens, both in the metropolis, and 
other cities of the empire, who were supported by the tribu- 
tary donations. 

The extinction of Caithage 20 years after the building of 
Rome, 198 years after the conquest of the Persian empire, 
by the Macedonians, and about 1 32 years before the Chris- 
tian jera, constitutes the memorable epoch, fsom which the 
colossal power of Rome might date its commencement, and 
the event from which her immense opulence originated ; ah 
fliough it was the conquest of the Greek lungdoms of Mace 



124 . LETTERS Let, XIl. 

donin, Sjri.i, <?cc. which RctuaUj poured into hev coire??, that 
e;:o.;nt'>a3 inas;'^ v/i weah'h wlikih pro«'i'oced a total chv>n7e in 
the JiiaBriecs of her clilzews. R6me, hy the deslrucsion of 
Caj'{haic:e, her p'>'ent iivd\, had rjgi^n superior ^o all he,- ene- 
mies, and hdd little left to do, but lo pioceed iiom conquest 
to coi"ji|(jest, mid soon bccaine rich widi il\e spoils of Ih-e -na- 
tioijis she 6itb(i?ie\i. The conquest of Macedoniaj, and the 
Gceoiaji do/riinions of Asia,, introdaced/die hjxurj of Asia 
along wifh its IreHSiues, -iniia tasle'lbr luxury and splendor, 
became univef-suih' prevHlent at 'Rome. From 1 he time of 
ihe ih'st Iriumviride of Jallus Cfesiir, Fompej, aad IH* Crass- 
ly ub, or a little belore that period, the splendid and costly 
feasts of the Soirians, t heir pompons eqiiipai^cs, their nunieroiis 
iolioues, the magnificence of their public exhibitions, and 
the dazzling splendor of their triumphs, would far ex-- 
ceed the bounds of credibiHty, were they not unanimously 
attested by historians of unquestionable veracity, and the au- 
iheoticity of (heir relations confirmed by a thousand corro- 
borating coincidences, which stamp upon them characters of 
irulh, which cannot be called in question. Accurate de- 
scriptions of all these things are now extant, written by au- 
thors who were perfectly acquainted with every circumstance. 
The things theiiiselves were of too public a nature to be lia- 
ble to misrepresentation, and consequently the authors who 
have described them, coiud not be exposed to the danger of 
misinformation or risistake ; nor could they have had the ef- 
frontery to impose upon the world fictitious representations 
of things of universal notoriety. From the time of the first 
Iriiimvirate to the subversion of the empire, the Roman his- 
tory is fcir n:tore luminous than that of any other ancient na^- 
lioi}, by reason of the flourishing state of the empire, and the 
celebrity of the events which took place in it, in connection 
whh a multiplicity of collateral circumstances, as well as on 
account of the number of writers, not only historians, but 
poets, orators, and moralists, who all make frequent alhjsions to 
ihe general political and moral circumstances of the Roman 
peoj)le. 

If luxury, like a torrent, rushed into RomiC as soon 
as she had by conquest and rapine amassed the wealth of the 
plundered world, we musl at least contemphde with pleasure 
die progress of arts, science, and literature among her citti 
zens» If we must condemn the corruption of their morals^ 



Let. XII. OlSf HISTORY. 12^- 

we cannot at the same time, refrain from applauding and ad- 
miring the improvement of their intellectual faculties. In 
conquering Greece the Romans imbibed a taste for the arts 
of that country, and Grecian learning and elegance, as well 
as Asiatic luxury, were introduced among the Romans. All 
the citizens of Rome, who had any expectatioH of advance- 
ment in public life, completed their studies in the schools of 
philosophy and rhetoric at Athens, or other cities of Greece. 
No Roman, of rank or opulence, could be found who did 
not poi^sess the advantages of a learned education ; and 
Rome soon rivalled Athens itself in the different departments 
of literature. Rhetoric was the favourite study of the Romans, 
and had indeed, ever since the establishment of the republican 
government, been considered as the most important part of 
a Roman education. As all the offices of the republic were 
elective, and as every public affair, having been debated in 
the Senate, was proposed to the people whose decision was 
final, eloquence of speech was essentially necessary to those 
who desired to qualify themselves for offices in the state, of 
indeed to acquire any kind of distinction. To shine in the 
Senate, by a dazzling and brilliant eloquence, and to excite 
the passions and commaijd the suffrages of the peop-e, by 
bold, persuasive and energetic harajigues, was the great ob- 
ject of literary exertion, and the summit of perfection among 
tiie Romans. After the\ flowers of Grecian rhetoric had 
been engrafted on the simple and manly energy of Roman 
eloquence, the oratorial art had attained to its ne plus ultra 
of perfection. This was in the time of Cicero, who, togetfier 
with Julius C^sar, M. Anthony, and many others, formed 
such a constellation of eloquent orators, as had never before 
adorned the Senate or ihe rostriini. Greece and Rome were 
the native soil of eloquence, where it was first cultivated, and 
where it was carried to the ultimate point of perfection. 
The popular form of their governments rendered it abe^olnitv 
ly necessary. Eloquence of speech and military talents 
were the high roads to wealth and honour among both the 
Greeks and Romans. And it is observable thai allhou'ih 
the experience and researches of' the moderns have mav'e 
many great discoveries in physical, mathematical and me- 
chanical knowledge, yet none have excelled them in elegaiit 
writing, and it is questionable whether anj have equalled 
them in the art of speaking. In the modern governments 

L2 



126 LETTERS Let. XIL 

where every thing is more regulated by fixed principles, 
rhetoric is not so necessary to a person in public life, as it 
was under (he popular system of Greece and Rome. 

In considering ihe powerful elfects of ancient oratory, our 
eiiiiosity is naturally excited to examine from what principles 
and circumstances it derived so extraordinary a force in 
moving the passions and swaying the resolutions and actions 
of men. We may reasonably suppose that the effects of an- 
cient rhetoric, as weW as those of ancient poetry, may have 
been painted in the most glowing colours, and transmitted to 
us in a style somewhat exaggerated ; but, however, when 
evsry allowance is made for the exaggerations of writers, we 
cannot but acknowledge that eloquence had a power and ef- 
fect among ihe ancients which we cannot imagine it would, 
in its greatest perfection, have among the moderns. This 
must undoubtedly be ascribed to the different state of the 
human mind in ancient and modern times. Whatever no- 
tions v;e may have of the state of science, literature and gen- 
eral information among the ancients, we must consider those 
advantages as limited to a small number of individuals of ge- 
nius, rank and opulence. The philosophers, poets and orators 
of Greece and Rome, make a splendid figure in the annals of 
literature ; and thtf celebrity of their names with the elegance 
of their literary compositions, impose upon our minds an ex- 
alted, and in one sense a very erroneous idea of the learning 
of the Greeks and Romans. Many of their men of letters 
merited all the applause which after-ages have bestowed 
upon them ; but it is beyond every possibility of doubt, that 
the great mass of the people were in a state of unlettered ig- 
norance. This was and must necessarilv have been the case 
with the populace of every country before the invention of 
prmting. Before that important 8sra, which stands so con- 
spicuous in the history of the human intellect, it was impossi- 
ble that knowledge should be diffused among the vulgar. 
The time required to v rite manuscripts rendered them too 
dear to be purchased by persons in narrow circumstances ; 
and learning being confined to so small a number of individu- 
als, and books so exceexlingly dear, were circumstances 
which had a constant and reciprocal influence on the general 
state of literature, the effects of which it was impossible to 
prevent or remedy ; for the excessive scarcity and dear- 
uess of books rendered the acquisition of learning impossible 



Let. Xlf. ON HISTORY. 127 

to the bulk of the people, and this circumstance confining the 
knowledge of letters to a small number of persons, and those 
generally of an elevated rank, or of distinguished opulence, 
there were none to write books or to teach the use of them, 
but such as would expect to be well paid. These circum- 
stances, reciprocally and necessarily acting, were an insur- 
mountable obstacle to the hterary pursuits of the lower clas- 
ses, and powerfully concurred to place the acquisition of 
knowledge oat of the reach of the great mass of mankind 
throughout the world. 

These observations will enable us to make a just estimate 
of the general state of intellectual improvement among all 
the civilized nations of antiquity, and from evident and well 
known circumstances, to draw this infallible conclusion ; 
that notwithstanding the boasted learning of the Greeks and 
Romans, those celebrated instructors of mankind, the great 
mass of the people of both these famous nations were beyond 
comparison more ignorant than the lowest class of people in 
thisi and many other European countries, who can most of 
them at least read ; and even those who do not enjoy that 
advantage, require some degree of information by daily 
converse with those who have at least some tincture of learn- 
ing ; for knowledge, like commerce, once put in motion, dif- 
fuses itself by innumerable channels, divided into an endless 
diversity of ramilications, and running in an infinity of direc- 
tions. 

This state of the human intellect, among the nations of an- 
tiquity, gave the ancient orators an advantage which those 
of modern times can never possess ; and contributed perhaps 
more than ^^ny other circumstance, to give an extraordinary 
effect to their eloquence. The orators of Greece and Rome, 
in their popular assemblies, addressed a curious and inquisitive, 
but unlettered multitude, desirous of political information, but 
possessing few means of acquiring it, except from the mouths 
of their orators, and at the same time entertaining an exalted 
opinion of their own im.portance in the state. In our times 
thsre are so many channels of information, that few people 
are entirely ignorant concerning any subject of debate. The 
newspapers circulated in almost every village are now a chan- 
nel of information open to every one ; and almost every man 
either reads them, or hears something of their contents, when 
any political measure of importance is in debate. The pub- 



128 LETTERS. Let. Xll 

lie mind is then in some measure prepared, and if popular 
orations were made by our statesmen as among the Oreeks 
and Romans, the previous information which the greatest 
part of the audience would possess would render their pas- 
sions more difficult to rouse, and modern orators would find 
it more necessary to address the reason and understanding of 
their auditors. The people of our age, would not, in gen- 
eral, make so hasty a decision as the Greek and Roman po- 
pulace ; they would rather be inclined to suspend their judg- 
ment till they had calmly considered the subject, and a num- 
ber of papers and popular addresses would be circulated on 
both sides of the question : but the mass of the Greek and 
Roman citizens, wanting those means of information which 
the moderns possess, had not the opportunity of discussing 
any political subject, until they heard it delivered from the 
rostrum, exhibited in that point of view in which (he orator 
chose to place it, painted in such colours as he }>leased to 
give it, and the whole supported, seconded and embellished 
by the most dazzling and energetic eloquence. The oration 
fell like a flash of lightning on the minds of the multitude ; 
their passions v*'ere roused : their ears were flattered, and 
their reason overpowered with the reiterated sounds of the 
majesty of the people, the glory of the republic, the good 
of their country and other phrases of a similar nature, of 
which politicians have always a suitable collection in store 
and of which factitious demagogues never fail to make use, in 
order to render the thoughtless multitude their instruments 
in the execution of their designs. 

Having carried forward our observations on the celebrated 
republic of Rome, from its first establishment to the period 
of its extinction, when it assumed the monarchical form, and 
taken a retrospect of its origin and progress, in conjunction 
with a general view of the manners of its citizens, their pover- 
ty, simplicity and patriotism in the first ages of the republic, 
and their luxury, splendor and opulence in latter times ; an 
observer, who would turn his attention to the general condi- 
tion of the human species, cannot dismiss the subject without 
contemplating the condition of a numerous and unhappy 
class of ^people, who composed a very considerable part of 
the inhabitants of the Roman dominions, and examining from 
what causes a state of life originated, it is impossible to con- 
template without hprror. 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 129 

III conlemplatiiig the enormous power and dazzling splen- 
dor of the iloiriari state, we must not forget that there always 
existed within its bosom a numerous and unfortunate class of 
human beings, who were excluded from every privilege of so- 
ciety, and from every blessing of life. It is computed by 
Mr. Gibbon that the slaves composed onehalf of the inhabi- 
tants of th'.\t extensive empire ; and as the inhabitants of the 
Koiiian empire, could not be fewer in number than those of 
modein Europe, which by general calculation amount to 
120,000,00(); consequentlj the number of Roman slaves 
coidd not be less than sixty millions ; a circumstance which 
exlilbits, in the most striking point of view, the tyranny of 
man over man. Those unhappy beings, dependent on the 
caprice of imperious masters, and unprotected by the laws, 
had the most rigorous laws enacted against them, to which 
they were obnoxious for the slightest misdemeanors. The 
government, conscious of the hardships of their situation, con- 
sidered them as a dangerous body of men, justly appre- 
hended that thdr desperate condition might stimulate them 
to desperate measures, and therefore endeavoured by eve- 
ry method to depress them as much as possible. They 
were left entirely at the disposal of their masters, who might 
treat them in what manner they pleased. Every master 
was invested with an absolute authority and power over his 
slaves. He might torture, maim, or put them to death, in 
what manner soever his caprice or his cruelty dictated. He 
was amenable to no laws for his conduct towards them ; no- 
thing could restrain his tyranny but the dictates of humanity 
w ithin his own breast, or a sense of his own interest in their 
preservation. It is a melancholy consideration, that a state 
of slavery existed among all the nations of antiquity, of whom 
we have any knowledge, and originated from various causes. 
One of these causes was the absolute power possessed by pa- 
rents over their children, in several ancient nations, which au- 
thorized them to put their children to death, sell them into 
slavery, or dispose of them as ihey pleased. This detestable 
law, which rendered the parent uncontroled arbiter of the fate 
of their offspring, was among the first of the Roman institutions, 
being established by Romulus, immediately after the founda- 
tion of Rome ; continued a considerable time in force among 
the Romans, and was almost general in the times of remote 
antiquity ; except among the Jews, who by their law, could 



130 LETTERS Let. XIL 

not put their children to death without an appeal to the ma- 
gistrates ; nor was it permitted to sell anj Hebrew to a foreign 
nation. The punishment of crimes was another source of 
slavery, as was also the insolvency of debtors. These pun- 
ishments of criminality and insolvency were subject to differ- 
ent regulations in different countries ; among the Jews ihe 
jubilee was a time of general release ; in many other nations 
the slavery arising from those two circumstances was perpet- 
ual, and even the wives and children of the criminal, or the 
insolvent, were involved in his punishment. These were, in 
some measure, so many dilTerent cauFses, from w^hence origin- 
ated the horrid system of renderiog one man the property of 
another ; but the capture of prisoners, in time of wai", was the 
greatest and most fertile somce of slavery, especially among 
the Romans, during the v/hole period of time in which the re- 
publican government of Rome existed : that restless state 
was engaged in continual hostilities with the surrounding na- 
tions, and every victory, and every conquest augmented ihe 
number of Roman slaves ; and as slavery was entailed from 
generation to generation, we cannot wonder at the extraor- 
dinary number of slaves in Rome, and other parts of the ter- 
ritories of the republic. 

There are now no historical documents extant, which give 
any authentic information of the manner in which slaves were 
treated among the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and 
other nations of remote antiquity. AVe may, from the sacred 
writings, collect some knowledge of their treatment among the 
Jews, where they were not left entirely at the mercy of ar- 
bitrary and cruel masters ; but, as human beings, although in 
a depressed situation, and as children of the universal parent, 
they were placed under the protection of the law, which, in 
many places, not only recommends, but absolutely enjoins 
the exercise of benevolence and compassion towards the bond 
slave and the stranger. 

These repeated injunctions of universal benevolence in 
tlie Mosaical lavvs, most strikingly display th^ superior ex- 
cellence of its moral doctrines, when compared with the in- 
stitutions of the most celebrated Pagan legislators, and affoi d 
no unreasonable presumption in favour of its divine original. 

If, however, we are ignorant of the manner in v^iiich slaves 
were treated in ihe nations just mentioneci, i isiorical evi- 
dence affords indisputable and melancholy proots, that this 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 181 

unfortunate class of mankind were used with extreme rigor 
among the Greeks and Romans, and especially the latter, as 
• we have just observed. It is a shocking, but, perhaps, loo 
just a reflection, which has been made by many judicious 
observers and accurate investigators of the history of man- 
kind, that those nations which enjoyed the greatest share of 
freedom have generally been the most cruel in the treatment 
of their slaves. If this be true, which, however, is not easy 
to prove, the circumstance can hardly have originated from 
the constitutional liberty of their respective governments, 
but must be ascribed to some other cause, difficult, and, per- 
haps, at this distance of time, impossible to trace. 

The changes which happened in the political and moral 
circumstances of the Romans, however, effected a material 
change in the condition of slavery ; and while we cannot but 
lament that the progressive aggrandizement of Rome, by her 
victorious arms, continually augmented the number of her 
slaves, we have at least the pleasure of observing, that the 
opulence and luxury introduced by her contjuest, ameliorat- 
ed exceedingly their condition. In the first ages of the re- 
public, while the Romans were indigent, but warlike, equally 
strangers to opulence and luxury, and intent upon acquisi- 
tion rather than enjoyment, the slaves were treated with ex- 
treme rigor, and were employed in the most laborious drudg- 
ery, in combination with every kind of hardship which can 
embitter human life. In the more advanced state of civiliza- 
tion, when the victories of Rome, and her conquest of the 
Asiatic kingdoms, as far as the Euphrates, had inspired her 
citizens with a taste for luxury and splendor, in proportion to 
their acquisitioB of wealth, and philosophy and literature bad 
at the same time humanized their minds, the nunierous body 
of Roman slaves soon began to experience the beneficial 
effects of the opulence and luxury of their masters. Instead 
of being worn out with painful labour and scanty food, great 
numbers of them were employed as agents and ministers of 
luxury in the capacity of cooks, confectioners, butlers, valets, 
and evGvy other department in the houses of the Roman 
grandees, and, like the domestics in modern times, were as 
well fed and clothed as their masters. Instances are not 
wanting of three or four hundred of those we!i-fed slaves be- 
ing maintained in some particular houses of the opulent Ro- 
man citizens. 



132 LETTERS Let. XII. 

If was a circumstance extremely favourable to the condi- 
tion of slavery, that the public distributions ot the provincial 
tributes, in the flourishing state of the republic, had placed 
the poorest Roman citizens above the necessity of labour or 
servitude. For as a citizen of Rome would have thought it a 
debasement to become a menial servant to a fellow citizen, 
and as the public donations exempted them from the neces- 
sity of entering into such a state for subsistence, consequent- 
ly the great and opulent were obliged to employ slaves and 
strangers as domestics, and the bulk of the domestics, in 
the houses of the great, both in the metropolis and other 
parts of the Roman dominions, were slaves. Another cause 
might also contribute, in no small degree, to soften the 
condition of slavery. It must be supposed, that the ac- 
cumulated posterity of slaves must, in process of time, 
have become exceedingly numerous. In the early ages of 
Rome, the slaves who were almost entirely prisoners taken 
in war, were of daring minds and of an untractable disposi- 
tion. Those iSerce and warlike barbarians, inferior indeed in 
discipline and military skill, were not inferior in daring and 
enterprising courage to the Romans themselves ; and accus- 
tomed, as they had been, to a life of military enterprise and 
lawless rapine, could not be expected patiently to submit to 
a state of laborious drudgery, under tyrannical and imperious 
masters; and, on that account, they were kept as much as 
possible in a state of depression, and exposed to every hard- 
ship. In after times the vast body of Roman slaves did not 
consist so much of prisoners actually taken in war, as of the 
posterity of those unfortunate persons who had undergone 
that fate; and their decendanfs, being long domesticated 
among the Romans, and familiarised with their manners, did 
not inherit the resentment and ungovernable disposition of 
their ancestors, but became, when treated with lenity, trac-r 
table and faithful servants ; a circumstance which could not 
fail of disposing the minds of their masters to kindness and 
indulgence ; and several instances are met with of fidelity and 
attachment in the slaves, and of kindness in the masters. In 
the latter times the affiancliisement of slaves, sometimes as a 
reward for faithful services, oftener perhaps for other reasons, 
was grown so common, that tlie senate thought it necessary 
to restrain this indulgence of masters. As a slave had no 
country of his own, he was, after hi^ affranchisement, deem- 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 138 

ed free of the country of which his master was a citizen ; 
and this circumstance might piobablj induce several masters 
to give freedom to their slaves, in order to have at their de- 
votion a number of freemen, who, through motives of grati- 
tude or interest, commonly attached themselves to the party 
of their former m.asters. However, as affranchisement from 
slavery conferred also the freedom of the city, the republic 
enacted laws to exclude those aifranchised slaves, and their 
descendants, to a certain number of generations, from the 
public ofiices of this state. 

This amelioration of the condition of slavery is one of the 
most pleasing consequences that flowed from the increased 
opulence and luxury of Rome, and a circumstance on which 
the compassionate mind must delight to reflect. Indeeci it 
gives pleasure, in reading the Roman history, to find that be- 
foie the xtinction of the republic, sorrie opulent cilizenSj 
such as T. P. Atficus, M. Crassus, and others, bestowed a 
liberal education on such of their slaves, as m.anifes1ed an ap- 
pjferance of genius and talents ; and we are informed, that-^^a, 
Crassus acquired a considerable part of his immense riches "^ 
by giving an excellent education to his slaves, and then dis- 
posing of them to great adi antag;e ; for a slave of abilities and 
learning Was held in great esteem, and valued at a high price. 
Such were employed as stewards and agents in almost every 
kind of business, and many of them taught grammar, and 
otlier rudiments of literature, and the sciences. Many e^ en 
of the ])hysicians and apothecaries of Rome were slaves f and 
there cannot exist a o>ore evident proof, that vakiable slaves 
were, at this period, highly esteemed and vrell treated, than 
that in cases of the greatest danger, by sickness or accident, 
the grandees of Rome frequently entrusted their lives in the 
hands of slaves. 

.Notwithstanding the splendor, opulence, elegance of taste 
slid literary attain ixients of the Romans, we find in the gene« 
ral delifieation of their manners, even in the most polished 
ages, some traits which do not appear, to a modern observer, 
the characteristics of a civilized people. The delight which 
the Romans always took, in the combats of the gladiatoi'S 
and slaves, appears in a disgusting view to the eye of human- 
ity. Such, however, was the general taste of the people ; 
and the moie enlightened and humane gave way to its prev:a- 
lence. Those horrid amusements were, no doubt, originally 

M 



134. LETTERS Let. XIL 

instituted by the Roman rulers, for the purpose of inuring 
the people to scenes of blood, and exciting them to delight 
in war and slaughter ; and long custom had rendered them 
agreeable to the multitude, and almost an essential part of 
their political system. Their cruel treatment of their pri- 
soners of war, is another circnmstance disgraceful to the Ro- 
man name ; but this species of barbarity was common to all the 
nations of antiquity, almost without exception, and strikingly 
displays the superior humanity of the moderns. Some in- 
stances of a contrary conduct are found among the ancients, 
of which Alexander's treatment of the Persian captives is one 
of the most illustrious. Those, however, are so rare, that 
they appear as deviations from their fixed principles. Of 
all the nations of antiquity, the civilized and highly polish- 
ed Romans were, perhaps, the most uniformly cruel in this 
respect. Scarcely any examples are found in their history, 
of generous treatment to their prisoners, especially during 
the existence of the republic. The sovereign princes, and 
principal commanders, of the enemy, who had the misfortune 
to fail into their hands, after having been exposed, loaded 
with chains, to adorn the triumphs of their conquerors, were 
generally condemned to a cruel death ; while those of infe- 
rior rank were either obliged to destroy one another in single 
combat, or condeuuied to fight with wild beasts, for the 
amusement of the barbarous multitude, who boasted of the 
title of Roman citizens, or condemned to perpetual slavery. 
If a modern European had seen the splendor of a Roman tri- 
wn-ph, whatever idea he might have conceived of the power 
and grandeur of the repubhc, in viewing the military pomp 
of such a spectacle, what would have been his feelings in con- 
teinplating the unhappy lot of so m.any warriors, perhaps 
not less brave, although less fortunate, than their insulting 
ccriquerors ? When the barbarity of the Romans towards 
their prisoners of war is compared with the hismanity of the ci- 
vilized nations ofmodern Europe in this respect, the contiast is 
stri singly in favour of the latter, and displays a horrid and dis- 
giisling picture of the inhumanity of the ancients, and especial- 
ly of thellomans, those polished masters of the ancient world. 
^I'he picture here given, is perhaps as just and as accu- 
rate a delmeation of the political and social state of ancient 
Rome, in a general view, as any historical documents now ex- 
tant can furnish ; to attempt a more particular investigation 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 13^ 

would be more tedious than useful, Rome was, at this period, 
in the meridian of her power and greatness, and the civ- 
ilized world, after ages of war and bloodshed, revolutions 
and political convulsions, from the earliest period of histori- 
cal record, reposing in profound peace under the shade of 
her victorious banners ; such was ihe state of things when 
the world was about to experience a revolution of a different 
nature from any it had undergone before, a total and funda- 
mental revolution in the religious and moral ideas of mankind. 
A most important event was about to take place, which was 
to influence the condition of mankind to the latest posierilv, 
and to act with undiminished force to the end of time. The 
christian revelation was about to be announced. 

The whole world was at this time immersed in the gross- 
est religious errors ; and except the Jews, and, perhaps, 
we may add the Persians, the whole coilecti\ e roasB of man- 
kind was bewildered in the intricate maze of unintelligible 
mythologies, and infatuated with the absurdities of idolatry. 
The Persians, as far as we can collect from history, had nev- 
er adopted any kind of idol-worship, nor admitted any re- 
presentations of the Supreme Being, except the s!in, and his 
symbol the lire ; for which they had a particular veneration, 
as the lively emblem of him who is ihe great Crea,tor and 
Source of Light. And, unless this eniblemalicai worship he 
deemed idolatry, the Persians cannot be classed among the 
idolatrous nations. In whatever light this superstitious ven- 
eration of the fire may be considered, it is, however, an un- 
questionable fact, that the Persians, like the Jews, wherever 
their arms prevailed, abolished the worship of all such re- 
presentations of the Supreme Being as were made by human 
art and workmanship. Xerxes demolished the temple of 
Greece, and destroyed the images of their god ; nor was he 
more indulgent to the Babylonians, but plundered and de- 
stroyed the celebrated temple of Belus, which Cyrus, Cam- 
byses, and Darius Hystaspes, undoubtedly from political mo- 
tives, had spared. The religion of the Persians seems to 
have approached nearer to deism than idolatry ; or, perliaps, 
it might most properly be deemed a medium between the 
two systems. The philosophy of other nations, especially the 
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, had formed divers systems, 
and adopted different opinions. Some of them had conceiv- 
ed the most exalted ideas of the essence and attributes of 



136 LETTERS Let. XII. 

the supreme and universal Being ; but (he multitude in every 
nation, the great mass of mankind throughout the world, was 
wholi}^ unacquaiuted with those siiblime speculations, and 
entertained the most absurd ideas of divine things. 

From the time when men began to exercise thsir thinking 
faculties, notwithstanding the weakness of their reason, thej 
could not fail of perceiving the mysterious circumstances of 
their existence. They would naturally reflect on the situa- 
tion in Vvhicli they saw themselves placed, and endeavour to 
investigate their origin, and to discover the cause which had 
given existence to man, and to the world, in which his resi- 
dence was fixed. And they could not avoid reflecting on the 
shortness and precarious nature of hnmao life. Afler pow- 
erful monarchies had been established, had aggrandized them- 
selves by conquest, and then had fallen a prey to other con* 
querors ; after a variety of revolutions had astonished the in- 
quisitive minds of those who attentively observed the fluc- 
tuations of all human affairs, and the innumerable and cease- 
less vicissitudes of all things here below ; after experience 
and observation had convinced mankind of the instability of 
all human power and greatness, men would naturally be still 
more excited to discover the first great cause which had given 
existence to the world, and continued to govern it viith an irre- 
sistible control. The uniform experience of mankind would 
convince them that the days of man are numbered, and the 
period of mortal existence fixed by a power whose will is ir- 
resistible ; and that neither crowns, nor sceptres, nor the 
highest exaltation of hnmaa greatness, can procure an ex- 
emption from the universal law, nor prolong hfe beyond the 
limits assiaoed by that Being who possesses an unlimhed 
control over universal nature. These considerations would 
naturally prompt the contemplative mind to enquire, wheth- 
er death vvere a total extinction of being, or whether it were 
only a change, after which man was still to exist with contin- 
ued or renovated powers in some future state. 

While the philosophical part of mankind, endeavoured to 
trace out those great truths, the most untutored capacity 
would discover that some great and universal cause existed, 
from which all things originated ; some powerful Being, who, 
with an absolute sway, governs and disposes all things accord- 
ing to his will ; and men w^ould conse€|uently think it their 
interest, as well as their duty, to render him some kind of 
homage and adoration. 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 13r 

In a general view of the history of the human mind, the 
prevailing systems of the philosophers of antiquity form 
a striking part of the picture, and shew how far unassisted 
reason is capable of advancing in divine science, though they 
differed in their ideas and forms of worship. We have al- 
ready remarked the Zabaism of the Chaldeans, consisting in 
the worship of the celestial bodies, a system which had an 
extensive spread, and was received in Egypt and in most 
parts of Asia. Mankind, in all ages, conscious of their owa 
unworthiness, to approach the throne of the Supreme Being, 
felt their need of some Mediator : and the Babylonians, 
whose principal study was astronomy, imagined the heaven* 
ly bodies to be inferior deities, acting as mediators between 
the All-perfect Being and men his creatures ; and conse- 
quently it soon became an essential part of their religion to 
endeavour to render them propitious by sacrifices and the 
performance of certain rites. The religion of the Egyptians 
was a tissue of allegorical representations. They exhibited 
the divine attributes, as well as the pha^nomena of nature, un- 
der the veil of allegory and symbol, and this gave rise to the 
worship of different animals, especially of the ox, the most 
useful and most beneficial to man of all the brute creation. 
Hermes, the Egyptian, supposed to have been nearly con- 
temporary with Moses, as also Zoroaster, the Persian ; and 
among the Greeks, Orpheus, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Em- 
pedocles, Melissus, Pherecydes, Thales, P3 thagoras, Plato, 
Aristotle and many others, found, in the necessity of invinci- 
ble reason one eternal and infinite Being, the Parent of the 
Universe. " All these men's opinions," says Lactantius, 
"amount to this, that they agree upon one Providence, 
whether the same be nature, or light, or reason, or under- 
standing, or fate, that is the same which we call God." In 
regard to the oriu^io of the universe, some believed it to be an 
eternal emanation of the Deity ; of this opinion Aristotle was, 
if not founder, at least the principal supporter ; but Plato, 
and the whole sect of the Platonists, supposed it to have been 
created at some particular period of time, according to an 
archetype or model eternally existing in the divine n?ii**I* 
Anaxa-^oras, a philosopher of Clazomena, and preceptor 
to Pericles, the Athenian hero, held the unity of the Su- 
preme Being, and was looked on in Greece as an Atheist, 
becauae he denied that the stars and planets were gods. 

M2 



138 LETTERS Let. XIL 

Vide Plato, de leg. P. 886. Afiaxagoras maintained that 
the former were suns, and the latter habitable worlds. So 
far is the system of a plurality of worlds from being of mo- 
dern origin, as many imagine. 

On the other side, Anaximander, who was contemporary 
with Pythagoras, and lived about 600 years before Christ, 
and in the time of the Babylonian captivity, was the first we 
know of who denied the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, 
and pretended to account for every thing by the action of an 
immense matter necessarily assuming all sorts of forms. 
His doctrine was embraced by Leucippiis, Democritus, Ep 
icm'us, Lucretius, &c. and opposed by Pythagoras, Anaxa- 
goras, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and a number of other great 
men. These two sects, the theists and the atheists, a long 
time divided Greece. Pyrrho then formed another- sect, 
whose great principle was to doubt of every thing. This 
principle they carried to the highest pitch of extravagance, 
so far even as to maintain that every thing we see is an illu- 
sion, and life a perpetual dream. Zeno next founded the sect 
of the stoics. He maintained that the Supreme Being is an in- 
finite and all-perfect intelligence ; but that his essence is a 
pure eether, or, in other words, that God is material. 

In regard to a future state, most of the philosophers of an- 
tiquity held the doctrine of the pre-existence of souls, and 
ihek fall ; and tayght that all souls will be restored to their 
primitive state. This doctrine of the pre-existence of souls 
was held by some of the ancient Fathers. It is also suppos- 
ed to have given rise to the doctrine of transmigration, uni- 
versally held by the Asiatics of old, as well as by most of 
them at this day, in those parts of Asia where the Mahome- 
tan religion does not prevail. 

Although many of the philosophers, among the heathens, 
entertained tolerable just ideas of the essence and attributes 
of the Supreme Being, ihey had in general formed an errone- 
ous opinion of his mode of governing the world ; and, almost 
without exception, admitted a number of inferior Deities, to 
whom he had committed the government of the different de- 
partments of the universe. This doctrine is unequivocally 
taught by Aristotle, who says, " All must be referred to one 
principal and primitive Being, and to several inferior beings, 
governing in subordination to Him ; and this (he says) is the 
genuine doctrine of the ancients*" And Plutarch, one of 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 139 

the most learned of all the ancients in the Pagan mythology, 
says, " As the sun is common to all the world, although call- 
ed by different names in different places, so there is but one 
sole supreme mind, and one and the same Providence that 
governs the world, although he be worshipped under differ- 
ent names, and has appointed certain interior powers for his 
ministers." Some suppose that this doctrine of the exist- 
ence of inferior deities arose from mistaking the allegorical 
mode of representing the different attributes of the Deity 
used by the Egyptians ; others suppose it originated from 
man's consciousness of his own unworthiness and need of a 
mediator before the throne of the great Ruler of the uni- 
verse ; and that it first prevailed in Babylon, where the 
priests, being accustomed to the contemplation of the heav- 
enly bodies, fixed on them as the established mediators be- 
tween God and man. Among others. Dr. Russel seems to 
be of this opinion, and says, " that the substance of this doc- 
trine, variously modelled, may be traced in most of the reli- 
gious systems of the Pagans, and that the twelve greater gods 
of the Greeks and Romans represent the seven planets, and 
the four elements, governing all in subordination to the one 
Great Supreme, according to the Chaldean hypothesis.'* 

While the philosophers were forming various hypotheses, 
and bewildering themselves in the maze of abstruse specula- 
tion, the great mass of mankind had neither leisure, inclina- 
tion, nor abilities, for disquisitions. Polytheism, however, 
was too well adapted to the depraved taste and capacities of 
the multitude, who were unable to comprehend the govern- 
ment and energy of an universal Being pervading all parts of 
the immense creation; and, perhaps, the same diSc 'Ity 
presenting itself to the minds of the philosophers, 'a.iip:h-, in 
no small degree, contribute to their general admisBjoii of ■ le 
"hypothesis of a number of inferior divinities ruling in the tifi- 
ferent departments of the world, in subordination to the one 
sovereign Being. The system of poly theism thus adinitted 
by the philosophers, and so well adapted to the conceptious 
of vulgar minds, was universally established in the pM^an 
world, but with this distinction, that amon; the pbilosopaeis, 
polytheism was subordinate to theism. Taey generally ac- 
knowledged one supreme and uni^ ers.il Bein,^, the father of 
gods and men, while the m^j|ii?irJe los: the ideas oi one 
sovereign being ^oog a crowd of. Merior deities. The 



140 LETTERS Let. XIL 

poets adopted the system as furnishing a grand and beautiful 
machinery for the embellishment of their poems, and imagi- 
nation multiplied god;^ without number. Every part of the 
universe was peopled with imaginary deities. Celestial, ter- 
restrial and infernal gods were created by the inventive fancy 
of the Greeks ; and household gods, gods of the rivers, of foun- 
tains, of the forest, and of the field, were admitted into the 
number ; and satyrs, nymphs, and fawns, with the souls of 
deceased heroes, helped to compose the monstrous system. 
Thus the mythologies of the Pagans, especially of the Greeks 
and Romans, became complicated and unintelligible systems 
of mysterious absurdities, and composed a mere celestial 
phantasmagoria of ideal beings. 

In what manner, and with what various modifications, the 
speculations of philosophers, and this variegated mass of poet- 
ical imagery, were interwoven in the popular religions of dif- 
ferent Pagan nations, it is impossible exactly to determine. 
Politicians varied the scenery according to the different 
moral and physical circumstances of the people they had to 
govern ; and consequently their systems were so varied, 
and original ideas so disguised or distorted, that to trace them 
to their first principles, would be as impossible as it would be 
useless. But as the systems of philosophers had Httle influ* 
ence on the multitude, who were unable to comprehend them, 
and the fictions of the poets were no more than ideal repre- 
sentations, existing only in the mind, the legislators and fra- 
mers of religions systems, among the ancients, invented the 
method of instructing the peaple through the medium of the 
senses, by the use of visible representations, and this was the 
origin of idol worship. Emblematical representations of the 
attributes of the Supreme Being are supposed to have been 
first used by the Egyptian priests, who covered all their 
knowledge under the veil of allegory, and expressed both 
their philosophical and theological ideas by hieroglyphical 
symbols. Some, however, rather suppose, that visible re- 
presentations of the attributes of the Deity, or at least of 
subordinate divinities, were first invented at Babylon, and 
that idol worship originated in that city ; but whether it took 
its J ise from the Egyptians, or Babylonians, is a problem of 
which the solution is equally difficult and useless ; for it is 
certain that the hypothesis of a plj^rality of inferior deities 
governing the world in subordination to the one Great Sa- 



Let. XIL ON HISTORY. 141 

preme Being, generally admitted, the politicians and legisla- 
tors of antiquity, considering that mankind are the most pow- 
erfully affected by such things as immediately and forcibly 
strike the senses, caused stalutes to be erected as represen- 
tations of those subordinate divinities ; and the institution of 
solemn festivals, with pompous sacrifices and ceremonies to 
their honor, inspired the people with veneration both for the 
ideal divinities and their material representations ; and thus 
rivetted idolatry, as well as polytheism, in the minds of man- 
kind. 

But a distinction, I have remarked, is to be made between 
the religion of the multitude and that of the philosophers, 
who acknowledged one supreme eternal and self-existing Be- 
ing, although they made no scruple of conforming to the es- 
tablished religious ceremonies of their respective countries, 
which they regarded only as political institutions, calculated 
to amuse the vulgar, and render the multitude more governa- 
ble by being united with the bonds of religion. The testi- 
monies of Eusebius, Lactantius, St. Augustine, and other 
fathers of the primitive church, unanimously prove this fact. 

In the age immediately preceding the coming of Christ, 
the philosophy of Epicurus had gained the ascendency at 
Rome. It was of an easy and accommodating kind, and 
suited the libertinism of a polite, but immoral age. Corrup- 
tion of manners and religious scepticism, were at their full 
height ; and most of the greatest and most learned men wa- 
vered between the theistical and atheistical system ; among 
whom may be reckoned the illustrious Cicero, although he 
seems to incline to the former. Man, left to himself without 
a guide, had lost himself in the labyrinth of speculation, and 
the imagination had launched out into all the extravagan- 
cies of which it is capable, when reason, overpowered, leaves 
it to run into wild exuberance. 

Such a state of the moral and intellectual world as is here 
delineated, and no one will say that the picture is distorted, 
clearly points out the necessity of a Divine Revelation, which, 
by giving supernatural aid to the feeble efforts of human rea- 
son, might fix the wanderings of the mind, and furnish man 
with certain information concerning what it is so much his in- 
terest to know, his most important and e\ erlasting concerns. 
This grand purpose was to be accomplished by the Christian 
Revelation, which was tp instruct mankind in forming right no- 



14« LETTERS Let. XIL 

tions of the Supreme Being, of his attributes and agency, of 
the means of pardon, and the most acceptable mode of wor- 
shipping Him. Of ail the various revolutions which had ever 
taken place in the world, this was far the most important, 
ana its effects the most wonderful, extensive and durable. 
The rise and fall of the Assyrian, Persian, and Grecian em- 
pires, and the immense aggrandizement of Rome, were tri- 
fling events, which sink into insignificancy when put into the 
scale of comparison with the establishment of Christianity, 
that great and important event, which was destined to effect 
a fundamental revolution in the ideas of mankind, and to pro- 
duce a total change in the moral aspect of the world. 

Every one is so well acquainted with the circumstances 
related in the gospel, that any mention of them here woul d 
be entirely misplaced. It is well known, that its first pro- 
pagators, inspired with a courage and perseverance, which, in 
their circumstances, nothing earthly could be supposed to 
give, dispersed themselves into different countries to an- 
nounce the glad tidings of salvation* In this attempt, too 
great for any human abilities, they met with all the difnculties 
and opposition that such an undertaking could be supposed 
to produce. Indeed it could not happen otherwise. Poor, 
despised, and illiterate, destitute of all human advantages, 
they undertook to propagate, and establish a doctrine dia- 
metrically opposite to every religious opinion received and 
venerated among men; a doctrine^ which militated in the 
highest degree against the passions as Well as the prejudices 
of mankind ; a doctrine, in fine, subversive of every religious 
establishment, and of every thing which from time immemo- 
rial had been revered and held sacred. The Christian reli- 
gion was first preached at Jerusalem, which had been the 
theatre of Christ's passion, as well as of many of the prin cipal 
actions of his life. Some converts were made and an infant 
church established, in that metropolis of Judea ; but the 
new system was rejected by the great body of the Jewish 
nation, as might, indeed, be expected. After their cruel 
and unjust treatment of its Founder, during his life, there 
was little probability that they would, after his death, ac- 
knowledge him for their Prince and Saviour ; especially, 
considering how much their minds were filled w ith the ex- 
pectation of a martial and conquering Messiah, under whose 
Yictorious banners they should shake off the Roman yoke. 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 143 

and establish a powerful empire, like the Babylonians, Per- 
sians, &c. of old, or like the Romans of that age ; or, at least, 
restore their nation to its ancient splendor and ascendency, 
under the prosperous reigns of David and Solomon. This 
being the general expectation of the priests, the rulers, and 
almost the whole body of the Jewish nation, it was in the 
hi,:;hest degree improbable that they shoidd acknowledge for 
their Messiah a person whom they had seen living in the 
most humble and indigent circumstances of humanity, and 
expiring in torments as a contemptible and seditious male- 
factor, in pursuance of the sentence which they themselves 
had passed, or at least procured to be unjustly passed upon 
him. The gospel dispensation, therefore, being rejected by 
the Jews, was carried among the Gentiles. Conveits were 
made, and churches established, in almost every city of the 
Roman empire, in Antioch, Damascus, Philippi, Corinth, 
Athens, Alexandria, Ephesus, Thessalonica, and in Rome 
itself; where, according to the best historical information, 
the apostles, Peter and Paul, suffered martyrdom in the first 
imperial persecution under Nero, who was the first Roman 
persecutor, and enacted a sanguinary decree against the 
Christians ; avowedly not through enmity against their reli- 
gious doctrine, but on an accusation of having set fire to the 
city, being desirous of removing the imputation of that horrid 
act from himself by fixing it upon them. Christianity con- 
tinued, however, to make a rapid progress, and some philo- 
sophers and men of learning saw good reasons for embrac- 
ing its doctrines, and following its precepts. The system 
soon acquired a new proof of its divine authority, in the well 
known destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and 
the dispersion of the Jewish nation ; an event circumstantial- 
ly foretold by Christ almost fifty years before it took place. 
The circumstances of that scene of desolation and carnage 
are eloquently related by Flavins Josephus, w ho, being first 
a commander in that war, and afterwards a prisoner to the 
Romans, was perfectly acquainted, not only with the princi- 
pal occurrences which took place in it, but also with the se- 
cret springs and causes from whence it originated ; as he had 
many times attended in the great council at Jerusalem, in 
w hich the war was resolved on, and the necessary measures 
concerted for carrying it on with vigor. He had also been 
a spectator of all the occurrences which took place during 



144 LETTERS Let. XIIL 

the last siege of Jerusalem; and we must confess that he 
see?nB to have related things with great accuracy, and with a 
considerable degree of impartiahtj, although we cannot be 
ignorant, that he composed his celebrated works under Ro- 
man influence. The destruction of the temple, and entire 
desolation of the city of Jerusalem, afforded a strong argu- 
men-: in favour of Christianity. It was visible to mankind, 
that a sign d judgment had fallen upon that people, and that, 
accoiiling to every appearance, their hopes of retrieving their 
naiional glory, and of acquiring a preponderancy in the poli- 
tical scale of nation"^, were forever exitinguished. These 
considerations, in connection with Christ's remarkable pro- 
phf^cy, and a number of other collateral circuoistances, cojld 
not fail of mas^^ifig a deep impression on the minds of thmking 
men, who knew how to reHect and reason on moral causes 
and events. And as the dispersion of the Jews, and the ex- 
tinction of their hopes of te npora'i sovereignty, formed at 
tliat tine no SiOall piesumplion in favoar of Christianity, the 
sin^^ilar conlin nation of that people in the same circum- 
stances has exceedingly coiroboi ated that presumption, in 
succeeding ages, down to the present day ; their continued 
existence, as a distinct people, thus dispersed among all na- 
tions, and mixed among the inhabitants of all countries, with- 
out being incorpo ated with any, exbibiting a moral and po- 
litical phsenomenon, to which nothing parallel or similar is 
found in the history of mankind. 

Having exhibited, I believe, a tolerably just representa- 
tion of the state of the human mind, in regard to its religious 
ideas previous to the promulgation of Christianity, and taken 
a slight view of the first propagation of a system so pregnant 
with great effects, I shall concfude, with asuring you, that, 

I remain. 

Dear Sir, yours, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER XIIL 



8IK, 



I RESUIME the pen, at this period, in order to continue 
my observations and reflections on the history of the human 



Let. Xm. ON HiBTOBY. 14o 

mind, and likewise idke the liberfj of oirering them to jour 
perusal. 

Being now arrived at ihe period when the Christian reve- 
lation had been proaiiilgated, and in some measure propagat- 
ed in the world, but as yet remaining in silent obscitritj, let 
us direct oar attention to the state of the Roman einpire, 
which forms the most conspicuous object of the times we aiC 
now exploring. 

The whole series of political and militarj transactions, 
which took place under the imperial governmerit, has been 
so minutely related by historians, that no person who is ac- 
quainted with the Belles Lettres can want any information 
on that subject. In delineating a general picture, it may, 
however be remarked, that the empire OouriBhed in the ple- 
nitude of power, and in a state of grandeur and magniliceace, 
unparalleled in the annals of nations, from the establishment 
of the imperial government by Augustus Caesar, until after 
the death of Constantine ; or, we nmy even extend this pe- 
riod of political greatness to the death of Theodosics, and 
the last fatal division of the empire between his two sons, Ar- 
cadius and Honorius, in which latter period are included 
about four hundred and forty years. In this long interval of 
time the prosperity of the empire suffered several transient 
interruptions from the revolts of commanders of armies, in- 
testine commotions, the vices and incapacity of emperors, 
and the inroads of foreign enemies; but the Kornan power, 
impregnable to every mode of attack, surmounted every dif- 
ficulty, and always rose-siipei-ior to every disaster.*" Dtiring 
the space of almost two hundred year>?, from the accession 
of Augustus to the death of Antonirms Fii^s, the Roman 
power continued stationary in if s full meridian blaze, and the 
empire enjoyed a state of political prospeilty and felicity 
which has seldom fallen to the lot of any nation. Comprising 
within her vast dominions all the nations skilled in arts and 
arms, famed for the valour and discipline of her invijicible 
legions, and possessing those immertse resources, E.012 e. by 
ihe terror of her naine, held the barbarous nations in avve ; 
and it Avas seldom th-a.t ?Lny of them durst provoke the dis- 
play of her victorious sagles. Wheoever they hazarded such 
a step, the contest was soon terminated ; the victories of 
Rome were lirilliant, her triumphs were glorious, and the dis- 
comfiture of her enemies decisive and fatal. As none of the 

N 



146 LETTERS Let. Xlli. 

neighboiiring nations presented any object that could be a 
temptation to avarice, the Romans could now have no in- 
ducement to war, but either the acquisition of glorv, or the 
repelling of the predatory inroads of barbaiians on the fion- 
tier?. The political system of the emperors was, in general, 
more pacific than thai of the republic had ever been ; and, 
e>; cep^lng the war of Vespasian and Titus against the Jews, 
and that of Trajan against the Parthians, we meet with few 
inipc/rtant scenes of carnage and devastation during the above 
ir.ent!oned period. Three unhappy circumstances alone may 
be considered, however, as an abatement of the felicity the 
Roman world would otherwise have then enjoyed ; namely, 
the personal vices of some of the emperors, as Nero, Vitel* 
lius, and Domitian ; the existence of slavery, and the frequent 
persecutions of the Christians. Much has been said by many 
wriiers against the pernicious effects of extensive empire, but 
many argiinieiits may also be adduced in its favor. The union 
of a numerous mass of people in one political system is one 
of the surest preventives of w^ar, as the division of countries 
into a great number of independent states is a never-failing 
source of predatory hostilities, of blood shed, rapine, and an- 
archy. Wherever a country is thus divided, such a multi- 
plicity of jarring interests arise, and so many objects of ani- 
bifion present themselves, as cannot fail of producing contin- 
ual scenes of contention, originating in the ambition, the ava- 
rice, and Ihe jarring interests of the rulers or the subjects, 
which involve the people in all sorts of calamities. Instances, 
without number, might be adduced, but a glance at ihe state 
of England, dot ing the time of the heptarchy, will suffice to 
exemplify the propriety of this observation. In an extensive 
monarchy tJiere is only one gieat political interest, and the 
obiecis of a;i(bition, however splendid and attractive, are 
fewer, and cooseqaently within the reach of a Sinaller num- 
ber of persons : \n such a state all tends to one central point, 
instead of deviating to diiferent centres. The vast collective 
mass of the people is united in one polifical system, and in 
one gener,;] interest ; and the difTereiit provinces which com- 
pose the einpiie enjoy the advantages of a free and U5iinter- 
rupted coaiinerce ; a circumstance of incalculable benefit, 
both to individuals and to the whole conimunity. Supposing 
e^ en an exteirsive monarchy to be despotic, and the raon- 
'aich hiiisseif a saisguinary and unfeeling tyrant, yet, by rea- 



Let. XIII. ON HISTORY. 147 

son of the extent of bis dominions, onlj a few individuah 
who most of thern voluntarify bring tlieioselves into contact 
with him, feel the effects of his crueltv" and despotism. 
Those who, from motives of ambition or interesi, approach 
his person, and serve him as the instruments of his tyranny, 
are the persons who principally feel the heavy hand of the 
tyrant. The great mass of the people feel its pressure in a 
much lighter degree. Distance of situation, and tlie great 
multitude of subjects, cause individuals to escape his notice. 
The reverse is the case in pettj^ stales, wiiere the eyes ol* 
the tyrant is always upon the individuals of his contract- 
ed dominions ; and a tyrant, at the distance of a thousand 
miles, is infinitely preferable to a tyrant at home, at our very 
doors. The history of mankind affords a multiplicity of 
proofs, that extensive monarchies are more conducive to the 
tranquillity of the world, and the general intcjes's of humaii- 
ity, than petty states ; and the Roman history furnishes ma- 
ny convincing arguments, that a monarchical is preferable to 
a republican governm.ent. Some of the emperors were mon- 
sters of vice and cruelty ; yet if Vve consider and compare llie 
condition of Rome, and her extensive empire under the re- 
publican and imperial governments; if we consider the resllcso 
and harassed stale of her citizens in the lime of the republic, 
Iheir compulsive military conscriptions, their tiimulfs, their 
intestine commotions and unceasing hostilities, witJi the ^ur~ 
roimding nations, and then contemplate her |>acific ppleodor 
under the imperial government ; ii we coiiNidei e * ery cir- 
cumstance, and make a just estimate of thin-^s, we Bl'.aii n;.^ 
perhaps, hesitate to pronounce the Romans-moie happy, irniier 
the very woist of their emperors, than nncler the republican 
system. It is at least an unquestionable trutl), that ihey 
sometimes enjoyed m»re public tranquillity in the space of 
one reign ; as, for instance, in those of Augustus, of Tiberius, 
of Adrian, and of Antoninus Pius, than they had experience 
ed during the v.'hole period of the existence of ilie republi- 
can system. Several, even of those emperors wlio are stig- 
matized Vvith the names of tyrants, were beloved not only by 
the soldiery, but by the people : if they were tyrants, the 
senate, that proud aristocratic body, which had so long op- 
pressed the people, was the principal object of their tyi&nny. 
The most flourishing and pacific period of the imperial 
government ended with the reign of An^onifuis. In the tijne 



UB LETTERS Let. XIIL 

of Marcus Aiirellas, his successor, the O.nadi, Altemanni, &c. 
who iohabited souie parts of Austria, Ba^ aria, and other dis- 
tricts of Geirtsanyjoo the iiorlh siue of Ihe Danube, made dread- 
m\ irrwpticns iiiio the empire ; as did afterwards the Daci- 
ims, who iiiliabifsd Moldavia, Transjh ani'i, and most of that 
inivt of Hrnuicirv wliich lies on ihe north side of the Biinube. 
Atii^y ihese the Gjyihs proved terrible enemies to the Roman 
erripiie. This nation, so celebrated in the history of imperial 
Bomo ; ;ind '? hkh acted so con^ipiciious a part in the subver- 
--0': '-i :';r ^;':aph-e, wns orkin^dly fixed in Scandinavia, the 
modci-'i :"UvnUc;: ->;; J Norway, and emigrated from thence 
as eany as ihc .Chi'islian ©ra. Id the time of Antoninus they 
weve sealed in prMs'^ia and Pomerania, about the mouth of 
■ he \lhtidn; azia at -lis same time the Vandals were seated 
inthe northern parts of Gerrnany, along the coasts of the Bal- 
tic, extending aa far westward as the Elbe. The Goths 
again emigrated more to the south-east, and took possession 
oithe Ukraine : and moving still farther southward, subdued 
the Dacians, and fixed their residence in Dacia, where they 
proved siicli formidable enemies to Rome. The dominions 
of the Goths, were boonded on the east by the Eiixine sea, 
on the south by the Danube, and they were divided into two 
kingdoms, that of Ihe eastern, or Ostrogoths, and that of the 
westerii, or Visigoths. Their ferritoiies comprised part of 
HiroQTirj to the went, but how far they extended northwards 
caooot be delermined, 8S the Gothic empiie sometimes'com' 
prehended a great part of Poiaiid and Germany, and at other 
periods was coidracted wi(hin much narrower bounds. It is, 
indeed, iasposfiibie to assign the limits of those barbarous na- 
tions, Vvdiose whole history, if it could be had, would display 
nothing; but successive scenes of emigration, conquest, blood- 
shed, and p'uiiiler. The Goihs having seated themselves in 
Dacia, ia the rel2;o of Philip (he Arabian, and having crossed 
the Danube in ih^d of his succcessor the emperor Decius, 
made their first inroad into ihe Roman empire. The Empe- 
ror Decius, having coriie to an engagement wifh them, was 
defeated and slain, and his body was never found, and his 
successor, Gallus, concluded an ignom.inious peace. The 
restless and enterprising Goths, notv.djhstanding, in ihe reign 
of Galiienus, crossing the Euxine in three grand divisions, 
plundered the city of Nicomedia, and ail Asia Minor. They 
also sailed down the Hellespont, look Athens, and plunder* 



Let. XIIL ON HISTORY. Ui9 

ed all Greece ; and their reiterated irruptions, at that period. 
seemed to threaten nothing less than the entire conquest or 
desolation of the finest provinces of the empire. 

A particular detail of transactions and events with whicli 
every one who has perused the history of the Roman empire 
is acquainted, would here be unnecessary. Such a summary 
as is necessary to preserve the concatenation of events and con- 
centrate the substance of historical information is all that is re- 
quisite in a general view. It suffices therefore to observe tlmt 
those barbarous nations, although generally defeated, and often 
with prodigious slaughter, whenever the Roman armies could 
bring them to an engagement, notwithstanding their bloody de- 
feats incessantly renewed their depredations, and in the reign of 
Gallienus their irruptions were so numerous and their attacks so 
general on almost every part of the Roman frontiers, that the 
dissolution of the empire seemed to be at hand. In addition lo 
the calamities occasioned by foreign wars, many of the coni- 
maaders of armies, and governors of provinces erected the stan- 
dard of revolt, and the Roman empire became an entire scene 
of anarchy, and exhibited as finished a picture of political in- 
felicity as it had formerly done af prosperity and splendor. 
The reign of Gallienus was not only exceedingly disastrous 
1]>ut likewise peculiarly disgraceful to the Roman name ; for 
the emperor Valerian, father of Gallienus, was at tliis calami- 
tous period a prisoner in the hands of Sapores, king of Persia, 
who is said by historians to have treated him with great indig- 
nity, obliging tiie unfortunate emperor to stoop down, and 
present his bended body as a footstool, when the insulting 
\ictor mounted his horse. Sapores is also said to have at 
last comuianded him to be flayed after his death, some say 
while he was alive, and his skin to be hung in the hall of au- 
dience, and kept as a monument to shew that ihe Romans 
were not invincible. If these circumstances be irue^ Vvliich 
however are questioned by some, they are exceedingly dis- 
graceful to ihe Iloman name, and especially to Gallienus, the 
worthless and unfeeling son of a brave, but unfoitunate fa- 
ther. It is, however, certain that Valerian was nevei- liliera- 
ted ; and his deplorable fate is one of the many thoispajid of 
instances, which history affords, of the vicissitudes of fortune, 
and the precarious and transitory nature of human greatness. 
In this disastrous reign, the civil and foreign wars, which ra- 
ged throughout the whole Romafi v/orld. produced a famine ; 

N2 



150 LETTERS Let. XllL 

which was succeeded by so dreadful a pestilence, that during 
a considerable time above five thousand persons are said to 
have died daily in the city of Rome ; and. according to the 
calculations of some authors, although there be some reason 
to suspect them of exaggeration, nearly haii of the inhabitants 
of the empire perished by the united calamities of war, fa- 
mine, and pestilence. 

The reign of Galiienus stands, unfortunately, distinguish- 
ed as the most calamitous period which Rome eyer saw, 
from the sera of the second pimic war to the reign of Honorius. 
Claudius, a soldier of mean exiraction, and originally a 
peasant of Uiyricura, a province situated on the south side of 
the Danube, and to the east of the northern extremity of the 
Adriatic Sea, being elected emperor, did as much as could 
be done in a short reign of three years, to retrieve the glory 
of the empire ; and the sacceediog vigorous and military 
reigns, of Probus and Aurelianos, both of them hke Claudi- 
us, originally Illyrian peasants, restored Rome to her former 
power and grandeur. The victories of Probus equalled those 
of the greatest heroes of antiquity ; and the reign of Aureli- 
anus was a continued scene of military operation, and of the 
most brilliant successes. In his time, the Altemanni cross- 
ing the Danube, penetrated as far as Milan ; and finding 
their retreat intercepted by the Emperor at the head of a pow- 
erful army, they n?ade so dreadful an irruption into Italy, 
that the imperial citj itself was thrown into the utmost con- 
sternation. At that alai ming crisis the inhabitants of Rome 
inclosed the city, aTid part of the suburbs, with that celebrat- 
ed wall called the wall of Aurelian. That warlike Empe- 
ror having, however, repulsed and almost totally extermi- 
nated tiie invading army, was assassinated on his march 
against the Persians. Although the glory of the empire was 
thus retrieved, and its territories restored to their former ex- 
tent, by tliose illustrious peasants from the banks of the Da- 
nube, jet we cannot but suppose that it must have considera- 
bly suffered from such scenes of war and anarchy. The 
nations of the northern side of the Danube, from its source to 
its entrance into the Euxine sea, having become more ac- 
quainted with the wealth of the Roman emf)ire, were contin- 
lially hovering upon the frontiers, ready to seize every oppor- 
tunity of bursting, like a torrent, into the provinces. The 
fate of Romej however, was suspended, and her eneniies 



Let. XIII. ON HISTORY. 151 

held at defiance by the irresistible valour and discipline of 
her invincible legions, under the conduct of a series of illus° 
trious commanders, as Dioclesian, Maximian, Galerius Con- 
stantius, Chlorus, and others, who had been trained under 
those warlike emperors, Claudius, Aurelianus, and Probus ; 
and who, being most of them persons of an obscure original, 
had, by passing through all the gradation of militay promo- 
tion, risen from poverty and obscurity to the empire of the 
world. During the space of an hundred years, immediately 
preceding the reign of Constantine, the Roman empire exhi- 
bited a political picture of a remarkable and extraordinary na- 
ture, of which the prominent features, were the frequent revo° 
lutions in the imperial command, with the sudden advance- 
ment, degradation, and assassination of emperors ; the revolt 
of commanders ; and, upon the whole, the empire frequently 
a scene of anarchy and rent with intestine commotions, yet 
presenting on every side a formidable and terrific front to its 
foreign enemies. Nevertheless, there is little reason to 
doubt but the collective mass of the inhabitants enjoyed, 
even in this confused state a greater share of happiness than 
under the republican government. In the times of which we 
are now speaking, the internal commotions and frequent re- 
volutions in the imperial government, chieSy affected the mili- 
tary men. They were the actors, and they were the princi- 
pal sufferers in those transactions ; the people took little part 
in them ; and the inroads of barbarians w^ere temporary and 
adventitious calamities ; but under the republican governmentj 
war was interwoven with the constitution, and almost essen- 
tial to its existence. Every citizen was a soldier, and Rome 
resembled a camp. Hostilities were continual ; every pro- 
vince exhibited a scene of devastation and rapine, until it ob- 
tained tranquillity by its subjugation. The system of the 
senate was to keep the people in a state of continual warfare ; 
that of the Emperors was rather to soften their military dis- 
position, and they rather chose to trust their own safety, and 
that of the empire, to the support of standing armies, accus- 
tomed to their commands, attached to their persons, and re- 
cruited from all the different classes of their subjects, than to 
military conscriptions of proud and refractory citizens. 

During the space of fifty-six years, which elapsed between 
the death of Gallienus, and the accession of Constantine to 
the undivided empire of the world, a series of warlike Em- 



152 LETTERS Let.XIIL 

perors had every where repulsed the barbarians, and retriev- 
ed the glory of the Roman name. Tlie empire had re- 
sumed its former splendor, and displayed the same exterior 
show of power and grandeur as in the first ages after the reign 
of Augustus ; but during the last thirty-seven years of this 
period the imperial command was in a divided state. Dio- 
clesian making Maximian his associate in the imperial dignity, 
those Emperors made a division of the empire, the former 
governing the east and the latter the west. This system 
was continued ; and the divisions and subdivisions were multi- 
plied, so that at one period the empire was governed by six 
emperors, Constantine, Maxentius, and Maximianus, in the 
west, and Licinius, Maximinus, and Galerius, in the east. In 
this singular system each of 4he Emperors exercised the 
sovereign authority in \m own part of the empire, but their 
joint authority extended over the whole ; and all public edicts 
were issued in the name of all the Emperors, 'this division 
of the empire continued until the joint Emperors, regarding 
one another as rivals, at last became open enemies, and in- 
volved the empire in civil wars, which ended in the elevation 
of Constantine to the united sovereignty of the whole. 

That Emperor having, by his signal military achievements, 
in a series of successful wars, and the successive defeats 
of Maxentius, and Licinius rendered himself sole master of 
the Roman world, tm-ned his victorious arms against the he- 
reditary enemies of Rome. Crossing the Danube, he pene- 
trated into the inmost recesses of Dacia, and reduced the 
Goths, and other barbarous nations of those quarters, to such 
extremities, that during tlie greatest part of his reign, no ene- 
my durst make an attack upon the empire, which then en- 
joyed a profound tranquillity, and displayed a degree of pow- 
er and splendor unequalled since the reign of Antoninus. 
After this summary of events, from the reign of Augustus to 
that of Constantine, the general political and social state of the 
Romans, during that period, in the next place claims our at- 
tention. 

The political system of Rome, under the imperial govern- 
ment, was singular and unprecedented ; and the empire might 
justly be defined a despotic monarchy under the form of a 
republic. The senatorial and consular dignities still existed, 
and all the republican forms remainedc The offices of ^.dile^ 



Let. Xil. ON HISTORY. 153 

Praetor, &c. remained as during the existence of the republic; 
but under the imperial government those offices were only 
nominal ; and Augustus had the address to unite most of 
them in his own person, a piece of policy which proves that 
consummate statesmen not to have been ignorant how much 
mankind are influenced by names. The greatest and v»i&est 
of his successors followed his example, and all the Emperors, 
who knew and consulted their own interests, affected 
to respect those republican forms : and during the first 
age of the imperial government, if the election of the Empe- 
ror v/as not made in the first place by the senate, the author- 
ity and approbation of that body was deemed necessary to 
sanction the election and render it valid. In process of time, 
however, the military thought themselves alone entitled to 
the right of electing their Emperors, and became the sole ar- 
biters of their destiny. The Emperors were elected or dis- 
posed by the sole authority of the army ; and the senate, in 
order to maintain at least the appearance of an authority, 
which it no longer possessed, hastened to ratify those milita- 
ry elections. The Praetorian guards first arrogated this right 
to themselves, and their example was soon followed by the 
Legionaries. This military mode of election was once car- 
ried to such a Jbeight of extravagant and shameless effrontery, 
that the Praetorian guards, having deposed and murdered the 
Emperor Alius Pertinax, disposedof the imperial dignity by 
public sale, exhibiting an instance of military usurpation and 
licentiousness unparalleled in the history of the world : the 
sovereignty of the greatest and most powerful empire that 
ever existed sold by public auction to the best bidder ! The 
price for which they sold it to Didius Juhanus, was, accord- 
ing to Mr. Gibbon, 6250 drachmas, amounting to about 2001. 
sterling per maa. The imperial consitution of Rome was 
entirely a system of military despotism. The imperial title 
and dignity were of a military nature, and after the reign of 
C)ommodus, the soldiery had the entire disposal of them, and 
were, in fact, the only sovereigns of the empire, neither the 
senate nor the people having any share in the government, or 
in the election of their Emperors, only the name of the senate 
seemed to give a legal sanction and constitutional validity to 
the military elections. It seems, that after popular assem- 
blies were abolished, on the accession of Tiberius, the osten- 
sible constitution of the imperial government was, that the 



154 LETTERS Let. XIL 

Emperor should be elected by the senate as generalissimo 
of the whole armed force of the empire ; or, as the Romans 
still called it, of the republic ; that the senate should be the 
sole legislative body, but that the executive power should be 
committed to the Emperor. But the actual constitution wa?, 
that the Emperors were elected and supported by the mili- 
tary, who were the real sovereigns, and the Emperor their 
agent, exhibiting a specimen of Ihe very worst kind of elect- 
ive monarchies ;^ no Emperor, how great soever might be 
his virtue, or his abilities, being'able to maintain his standing 
unless he took care to conciliate the favour of the army. The 
Emperors possessing the executive power, with the whole 
military force ^of the empire at their disposal, set aside the 
legislative authority of the senate. Until the reign of Ad»- 
rian, the Emperors promulgated their law^s in the character of 
Roman m-agistrates, authorised by the senate ; but Adrian 
constituted himself the fountain of the law ; and after his reign, 
not only the public administration, but also the private juiis- 
prudence of the empire, w^as modelled by the will of the 
Emperor. 

We have already observed, that the Romans had, in the 
latter times of the republic, departed from those maxims, 
which excluded persons of an inferior class from admission 
into the army. We have remarked, that C. Marius was 
the first who enlisted persons of such a description, and that 
his example was followed by other ambitious leaders. In- 
deed it could hardly be supposed, that either a Sylla, a Cae- 
sar, or a Pompey, w^ould exclude from their armies any that 
were Avilling, and appeared able, to render them effective 
service; and, consequently, before the extinction of the re- 
publican system, a considerable change had, in that respect, 
taken place. 

After the establishment of the imperial government, the 
Emperors, as before observed, preferring regular standing ai*- 
mies, levied in the provinces, to military conscriptions of 
citizens, adopted the mode of recruiting from the lowest class- 
es of the people, and admitting persons of eYery description 
to the honour of being qualified to enlist in the Roman le- 
gions ; and also conferred on such as enrolled themselves, the 
privileges of Roman citizens, which, by reason of exemption 
from the tributary taxes paid by the provincials, and (he pub- 
lic donations of money, &c. already mentioned, were very 



Let. XII. ON HISTORY. 15^ 

great, and had been rather augmented than diminished un- 
der the Emperors. The annual stipend of the legionaries, 
as fixed by Domitian, who had sonievvhat augmented their 
pav, was twelve pieces of gold, a sum nearly equivalent to 
ten pounds sterling ; and each legionary soldier, after twen- 
ty years service, received about an hundred pounds sterling, 
or its equivalent in land. 

The famous corps, called the Praetorian guards, was es- 
tablished by Augustus for his body guards, and for the de- 
fence of the capital Their pay and perquisites were the 
doable of those of the legionaries. At first they consisted of 
about ten thousand wen. Of these, three cohorts were quar- 
tered in Rome, and the rest in the environs. They were 
all assenibled at Rome, by Tiberius, and fixed in a permanent 
camp under the walls. Vitellius augmented their number 
to fifteen thousand. These Praetorian guards were recruit- 
ed from the flower of the Italian youth, until the reign of 
Septimhis Severus, who cashiered them as a punishment for 
the murder of the Emperor Pertinax, and their presumptu- 
ous sale of the empire by public auction. Severus then form- 
ed a new body of Praetorian guards, amounting to the num- 
ber of fifty thousand, and composed of the best soldiers, se- 
lected out of every legion. That Emperor increased the 
pay and perquisites of the soldiery beyond all former exam- 
ple, and taught them to expect, and finally to claim, extraor- 
dinary donatives on every occasion of public festivity or dan- 
ger. Dioclesian and Maximianus dismissed the Praetorian 
corps from their former station of body guards, and called to 
that duty two regiments of Illyrians, whom they named Jo- 
vians and Herculeans, as they themselves assumed the 
names of Jovius and Herculeus; willing, it seems, to make 
their subjects believe that they ranked among the gods, or 
at least were of celestial descent. Conatantine, after his vic- 
tory over Maxentius, conceiving it to be impolitic to suffer 
the existence of so dangerous a corps, finally abolished the 
Prfetoiian guards ; and having, in consequence of their re- 
sistence, forced their fortified camp under the wails of Rome, 
dispersed them among the troops of the provinces. Thus 
was broken and dispersed that celebrated military corps, 
which had so often disposed of the empire of the world. 

When we concluded our observations at the period marked 
by the reign of Augustus, we contemplated Rome in the ze- 



156 LETTERS Let. XIII. 

nithof her glory, mistress of the world, the centre of power, 
wealth, and learning, as well as of luxuiy and dissipation ; her 
wealth and power had scarcely any further opportunity of 
augmentation; but her luxury, ahhough like her greatness 
it seemed to have arrived at its ultimate pitch, was consider- 
ably increased under the imperial government. Her citizens 
no longer thought of conquest and plunder, but of tranquilli- ' 
ty and enjoyment. Her wars, as already ©bserved, were 
beyond comparison less frequent than under the republican 
system, and were oftener undertaken for defence than for ag- 
grandisement of power, or extension of dominion. This 
change, fiom a system of perpetual warfare, to a love of 
peace, proceeded partly from the pacific dispositions of se- 
veral of the Emperors, and the depression of the senate, who 
no longer possessed the power of dragging the people out to 
arms under the specious pretext of asserting the glory of the 
republic, and the majesty of the Roman people : and, per- 
haps, most of all, from the circumstance of the empire hav- 
ing nothing to gain, but much to lose by hostilities, the state 
of the surrounding nations being such that the conquest of 
them could aflbrd no prospect of gratification to the ambition, 
the avarice, and luxury of the Romans. 

The splendid exhibitions of the Circus were more pom- 
pous, and the public games were celebrated with greater 
magnificence, under the imperial, than they had been under the 
republican government ; and the triumphs of several of the 
Emperors, especially of Vespasian, and his s.on Titus, also 
those of Trajan, Probus, and Aurelian, exhibited scenes of 
unparalleled magnificence. It seems to have been the policy 
of the Emperors, as it had formerly been of the senate, to keep 
the restless populace in humour by amusing them with pom- 
pous spectacles, and indulging them with liberal donations ; 
and by embellishing the city, which almost every Emperor, 
whose reign was of any considerable duration, ornamented 
with some superb edifice, as a permanent mark of his gran- 
deur, and of his affection for the jjloraan people. The city 
was consequently exceedingly embellished under the impe- 
rial government. The most magnificent edifices, and other 
stupendous works, which have attracted the admiration of 
posterity, and of which the venerable ruins to this day at- 
test the instability of hum-an power and grandem-, were the 
works of the Emperors; such were the amphitheatres of 



Let. XIIL ON HISTORY. 157 

Nero and Titus — the triumphal arches — I he column of Tra- 
jan — the mausoleum of Adrian, now the castle of St. Ange- 
lo — the bafhs of Bioclesian, and many others, which it 
would be tedious to enumerate. During this period the chy 
was undoubtedly enlarged as well as embellished. And as 
the case is in all wealthy and luxurious capitals, it may be 
supposed that great numbers of artisans and traders of every 
.ilescription would flock to a place which was the centre of 
wealth, and the seat of dissipation. This supposition is pro- 
bable ; but, however, some suppose that Rome wa^ never 
more populous, nor much more extensive, than in the reign 
of Augustus ; a supposition which does not seem compatible 
with the existing circumstances of those times. This is a 
point, however, which it is now impossible to determine, as 
historians have left us in the dark concerning those important 
particulars, while they have told us all they knew, and more 
than they knew, of battles, sieges, rebellions, and usurpations ; 
and filled their pages with narratives of slaughter and desola- 
tion which disgrace human nature. These things they pre- 
tend to relate with as much minute accuracy as if they had 
been spectators of each bloody scene, and privy to every dis- 
graceful crime they relate ; while, in regard to the literary, 
scientific, and commercial improvements of nations, they leave 
us to guess what we can from broken hints which have ca- 
sually dropt from their pens, by reason of their being in con- 
nection with circumstances of inferior magnitude, which it has 
pleased them to relate. An acquaintance with history is, 
however, absolutely necessary to every one who pretends to 
any degree of general information and know ledge of mankind. 
It must be studied, such as it is, and we must make the best 
of it we can. 

An author who was contemporary with the Emperors 
Constantine, Constantius, and Julian, has left us a striking pic- 
ture-of Roman luxury in that age. The grandees of Rome, 
he says, shewed their rank and consequence by the loftiness 
of their chariots, which were many of them of maf^sy silver, 
curiously carved, and the trappings of their horses and 
mules richly embossed and ornamented with gold, and made 
an ostentatious display of their opulence in the ponderous 
magnificence of their dress. Their long robes ofpuiple silk 
floating in the wind, as they were n^oved by art or acrideot, 
occasionally discovered their rich tunics, gorgeously em- 

O 



158 LETTERS Let. XIII. 

broidered with the figures of divers animals. Tbe example 
of the nobles was followed by the matrons and ladies, with 
the wealth/ plebeians, whose superb carriages were contin- 
uallj driving round the immense extent of Jhe city and su- 
burbs. In fine, luxury was, in the latter ages of the empire, 
car ied to an exirenie in Rome. 

. The tragic and comic Kiuses had remained almost silent 
since the extinction of the repnbhc. Under the imperial 
government their places v/ere occupied by licentious farce, 
etiemniate music, and splendid paueaiitry ; and the panto- 
mime was much in fashion amonr>, the Romans of the latter 
aies. The spacious and magnificent theatres of Rome were 
filled by three thousand female dancers, and three thousand 
mn£;ers, with the masters of the different chorusses. But the 
principal and most splendid amusement of the Roman people 
corj^lsted in the frequent exhibitions of the public games and 
spectacles in the Circus* To these m.ay be added, the pub- 
lic baths, to which persons of all ranks had access at a very 
moderate expence ; the price of admission not much exceed- 
ing one eightxh of an English penny. No other city ever af- 
forded such a multiplicity of magnificent exhibitions and 
sperKJid asnusements, at so cheap a rate, as Rome furnished 
to her numerous inhabitants ; and in no other metropolis, of 
the ancient or modern world, have luxury, dissipation, and 
ostentatious parade, been carried to such an height of extra- 
vagance. 

While we contemplate the unparalleled magnificence and 
splendor of Rome, and the unexampled luxury and dissipa- 
tion of her inhabitants, under the imperial government, we 
cnnnot, however, but lament the decline of learning during 
tliC sa'Tje period. Popular assemblies were discountenanced 
by A'.r;;'.sfus and totpdly abolished at the accession of Tibe- 
ri'is. Etjqiieoc^, therefore, tlie grand object of Roman, as it 
had formerly been of Grecian study, lost its utility and im- 
portance, and even in the senate was of Hi tie advantage to its 
po^.sessor or to the public. Whatever foj-ms might s'^ill exist, 
tliC conitiiution was to^aiiy ch.anged. JNothing could be ef- 
fected by influencing the minds of the senators, or moving the 
passions of the people, by the charms of eloq^ience. All was 
at t!ie disposal of a military comm.ander, di<:nilied with the 
ti-le of Inspeuator, or Oenevul, which we tran la^e Emperor; 
a. title, which, among the Romans, literally signified General- 



Let. Xm. ON HISTORY. 159 

issimo, or Commander in Chief of the whole armed force of 
the repubhc, as the Roman empire was still improperly call- 
ed. Eiocpience having therefore lost its influence, the cuhi-* 
vadon of letters was no longer pursued with the same avidiij 
as tormerly. It was, indeed, perhaps iippossible (o cany 
philological learning beyond the point to which it had been 
carried in the latter times of the republic, as the most eiegiiiit 
writers among the moderns have not been able to sm-pass 
the compositions of Cicero, and the writers of the Augiislao 
age. Roman hterature, however, did not long remain station- 
ary, but soon began to decline. During that piosperous 
and luminous period, which elapsed between the estab- 
lishment of the imperial government and the reign <)[ M. Au- 
reiius, the decline of learning, and the arts, was less percep- 
tible ; for although senatorial and forensic eloqueiic e had lost 
.power and utility, a taste for letters was neveiihtless kept 
up by the munificence and examples of the Ei»>pe:o;.s, v ho 
were most of them men of letters, and some oi' them, particii- 
larly Augustus, Adrian, Antonius, and M. Aorelius, we-e 
great patrons and promoters of learning. After this period, 
science and literature rapidly fell into a declining state. i7ia- 
ny of the succeeding Emperors were illiterate peasants, who, 
by a train of favourable circumstances had, from the louest 
class of people, been raised to the imperial purple, and held 
literary pursuits and acquirements in low estimation. i\o lar- 
ther progress in science had been made beyond tiie attahi- 
ments of the Augustan age. The philosophy of the ancienJs 
Chaldeans, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans^ jJiief- 
ly consisted in moral observations, rides, and piecepfs ; or 
in subtle questions and abstruse speculations, io wliich the 
human mind, after it had arrived at a certain piniit^ coidd pro 
ceed no farther on any fixed piinciples, unu lost ilseif in wild 
conjecture. They vrere not acquainted with that kind of phi- 
losophy founded on experiment, by which the moderns have 
ascertahied so many doubtful points, and made such niniie- 
rous and important- discoveries. Before the reign of Conslan- 
tine every kind of science and learning had sunk far beiow 
its former pitch. That Emperor, however, gave great en- 
couragement to men of genius, and although destitute of a 
literary education himself, made every possible elibrt for the 
revival of a taste for learning, and the fine arts, especially 
the latter, of which he found a want for the embellishment of 



160 LETTERS Let. XIIL 

Constantinople ; but the decline was too great to be retriev- 
ed in the space of one reign, and the succeeding ages proved 
iintav curable io their culiure. The reign of Constantine, 
liowever, produced, or fosind already formed, soaie men of 
cxiraordifiiu y talents and erudition among the Christians, par- 
ticiiiarly the elociueot Lactantius, and Ihe famous Eusebins, 
bishop of Cegarea, a man of imcoKiiuon enidilion, as may be 
discovered in his writings; for in one of his works, the Prep. 
Evangelica, he quotes no fewer than four hundred Greek 
Anthois. In this age the stndj of clivinitj began to be the 
pievaiJing (aate in the literary world. 

Tiie amelioration of the condition of slavery is not the least 
pleasing subject of contemplation afforded by imperial Rome. 
it lias already been observed, that the general change in the 
political and social circumstances of the Roaians, had proved 
extremely favourable to their slaves ; and that, from the con- 
curreoce of various causes, ihe condition of slavery was ex- 
ceedingly meliorated before the extinction of the republican 
government. The same combination of causes, existing in a 
still greater exieniy operated also with greater efficacy in fa- 
vour of that oppressed class of mortals under the imperial 
system ; as luxury, which had proved so favourable to the 
Roman slaves, still increased ; and the pacific system of the 
Emperors, from the establishment of the imperial government, 
i-otii the incursions of the barbadians roused them to arms, 
with the traiiquillity the empire had in general enjojed from 
the accession of Augustus to that of M. AureliriS, had caused 
the influx of slaves to be inconsiderable; a circumstance 
which necessarily rendered them, more valuable, and caused 
(hem to be more highly prized. The republican ideas of the 
Romans, aud the tributary distributions to the poorer class of 
the citizens, precluded among the higher ranks the inclina- 
tion, and aiiiong the lower class the necessity of undertaking 
those employments, which, among the moderns, are so far 
fi'om being disgraceful, Ihat ihey are esteemed honourable ; 
and those offices of honour and emolument, which in modern 
courts are conferred on ihe higher rank of subjects, were, in 
the imperial court of Rome, generally filled with slaves. In- 
deed the E.asperors themselves had many good reasons to 
iirefer slaves before Roman citizens in the offices of their 
household. Some of ihe Emperors also promulgated laws in 
favour of that unhappy class of people. The Emperor 



&T. XQL ONHISTOKY. 161 

Adiian, in particular, deprived masters of their arbitrary 
power over their slaves, which thej had possessed from the 
building of Rome to that time, and put the persons of the 
slaves under the protection of the law, which is an instance, 
among many thousands of others, that might be adduced to 
prove that monarchical government is generally more favour- 
able to the lower orders of the people than republicanism : 
for in all the boasted ages of (what is called) Roman liberty, 
no regulations had been made in favour of that unfortunate 
race of mortals, who, during the whole period of the repubU- 
can government, iiad been without legal protection. We 
have already observed, that in the opulent and luxurious times 
of the republic, the enfranchisement of slaves, either front 
liberality of sentiment, ostentation, or interested motives, had 
become fashionable. The senate enacted laws for the exclu- 
sion of enfranchised slaves and their descendants from the 
public offices of the state. These laws, however, in time, 
became obsolete, and were disregarded under the imperial 
government; when enlistment into the army conferred the 
rights of citizenship on persons of every description. The 
distance between slavery and freedom gradually lessened, 
and Dioclesian, the son of an enfranchised slave, and even 
supposed to have been born while his father was in the state 
of slavery, having enrolled himself in one of the Roman le- 
gions, and passed through the various gradations of military 
promotion, seized the imperial purple, was proclaimed Empe« 
ror by the army, recognized by the senate, and reigned wilh> 
distiuauished reputation over the Roman world. 

l^e circumstance which had contributed, above all otherFj 
to exhibit the imperial government of Rome to the eyes of 
posterity, as the most iniquitous system of tyranny, and to 
stigmatize many of the Emperors, with the epithets of the 
most sanguinary tyrants that ever disgraced a sceptre, was 
the frequent and cruel persecutions of the Christians : bv.t if 
we examine with accuracy, and make a just statement of the 
case, perhaps many of the Emperors will, in some measure, 
stand exculpated in the eye of impartial decision; for it is to 
be remarked, that, notwithstanding the cruel and uiijust pei- 
secutions of the Christians under the imperial governriieiitj 
few of the Emperors were persecutojs from inclinatiosi. 
Many of those who issued the most sanguinary edicts against 
the Christians, are known to have shewn no particular a,ei- 

02 



162 LETTERS Let. XIIL 

sion against Christianity, or ils professors ; but even to have 
frequently promoted them to oSices of honour and emolu- 
ment, until thej were misled by evil counsellors, who either 
had an aversion against the christian doctrine, or a personal 
pique against some individuals of that religion. This was the 
case with Valerian, who, in the commencement of his reign, 
was particularly favourable to Christians, and advanced many 
of them to the most honourable and lucrative employments, 
until, on the inroads of Sapores, king of Persia, into the Ro- 
man provinces, he suifered himself to be persuaded by de- 
signing priests and intriguing courtiers, that all the calamities 
w hich the empire suffered, and with which it was threatened, 
proceeded froni the vengeance of the gods for suffering a 
sect of people to exist who Avere the professed enemies of 
their worship. This was commonly the lure by which the 
Pagan priests drew the Emperors into the snare, and, work- 
ing upon their superstiiious prejudices, instigated them to 
sanction, by their aiithoiity, those persecutions which they 
themselves had projected 

If the persecutions raised against the Christians were traced 
to their oii\.^inal source, they might, undoubtedly, be ascribed 
to three ps incipal causes ; the private piques and jealousies 
of persons in power, or such as Avished to be so ; the interest- 
ed suggestions of the Pagan priests, and others interested in 
the support of Paganism; and, lastly, the superstition of the 
people. It requires no very extensive reading, nor a xevy 
w ide sphere of observation, to trace the operation, and calcu- 
late the effects of these causes. Every one who is in a mo- 
derate degree acquainted with the history of courts and cour- 
tiers, knows the jealousies of favourites, and of candidates for 
favour, and the means they frequently make use of to alien- 
ate the mind of the great personage on Vv'hom their hopes de- 
pend, from all such as they know to be their rivals, or sus- 
pect of any design of becoming such. When persons of 
this description saw Christians advanced, to offices, which 
they themselves desired to fill, and could find no ground of 
accusation, either of treason or misconduct, against them, they 
would naturally have recourse to their last expedient, and 
accuse them of impiety, as enemies and contemners of the 
gods of the empire. Such was the conduct of the Babylo- 
nian courtiers, in regard to Shadrac, Meshec, and Abednego, 
and of the Persians towards Daniel. The first, wlien they 



Let. XIIL ON HISTORY. 16^ 

perceived the three men above mentioned to be in favour 
with Nebuchadnezzar, endeavoured to effect their destruc- 
tion by accusing them to that prince of not worshipping the 
gods that he worshipped, and of refusing to adore the image 
which he had erected ; and the latter, from similar motives, 
impeached Daniel of disobedience to the king's command. 
Every one, who, hy reading or observation, is acquainted w ith 
court intrigues, will easily perceive that the Babylonians did 
not accuse the three favourites from any motives of religion. 
Some of them, perhaps, had as little veneration for the image 
in the plain of Dura, as those Jews themBelves had. The 
true reason was, the favour and influence they had with the 
monarch, and the honour to which they ^aw them advanced. 
In like manner the grandees of Persia did not impeach Daniel 
of contempt for the king's command from any extraordinary 
respect they themselves had for it, but to procure his destruc- 
tion, which they found themselves unable to eflect by any 
oilier means. And if we reason fiom the analogies of moral 
experience, we may safely presume, that, under the Roman 
Emperors, persecutions were sometimes excited or promoted 
by persons, wholly indilfereni to religious matters, but not in- 
different to the honours and emolumenis to which they saw 
their rivals in powder and favour advanced. When those ri- 
vals happened to be Christians, as was often the case, under 
many of the Pagan Emperors, those jealous candidates for fa- 
vour and promotion, when they could not otherwise ruin the 
individual, attacked the profession in imitation of the Babylo- 
nian and Persian courtiers of old. 

It is easy to conceive how^ much the priests of a pom- 
pous ceremonious religion were interested in the support of 
a system which procured them honour, emolument, and in- 
fluence. The priests of Paganism could not but see the grad- 
ual encroachments which Christianity was making upon that 
system on which their credit and fortune depended. They 
could not fail of perceiving the decrease in the number of 
their votaries and offerings, the diminution of their credit, 
and, in fine, all the evils w hich menaced their declining reli- 
gion. The philosophers also foresaw, in the overthrow of 
their systems, the destruction of their credit, and the extinc- 
tion of their fame. Their interests coincided with those of 
the priests, and the view s of both were seconded by all that 
numerous tribe of artisans, and others concerned in the em-^ 



!64 LETTERS Let. XHE 

bellishments of their temples, of which we have a striking in- 
stance in the conduct of Demetrius, the silversmith, of 
Ephesus. Paganism was a splendid, pompous, and ceremo- 
nious religion ; calculated not only to strike the eyes, and 
impose on the minds of the vulgar, but also to attach a very 
considerable number of men of talent and ingenuity to its in- 
terest and support. The number and magniticence of its 
temples, the superb statues of its gods, and the curious and 
costly utensils used in its sacrifices and ceremonies, gave em- 
ployment to numbers of ingenious artisans, and its frequent 
and splendid festivals afforded an agreeable entei tainment to 
the populace. It is, therefore, no wonder that a numerous 
body of people, throughout the whole empire, should be 
ready to support a system from wdience they derived so many 
advantages, and desirous of depressing a religion which 
threatened its overthrow. Of ail this interested assemblage, 
the priests formed the van, and seized every opportunity of 
kindling the flames of persecution, when any disaster, as pes- 
tilence, famine, or unsuccessful war, afflicted or menaced the 
empire. On these occasions they never failed to ascribe the 
pubhc calamities to the progress of Christianity, and to per- 
suade the Emperors that the wrath of the gods could be ap- 
peased only by the blood of the Christians. The represen- 
tations of the priests, seconded by a numerous body of per- 
sons, of different descriptions, interested in the support of 
Paganism, could not fail of operating on the minds of the Em- 
perors, several of whom had, by military merit, intrigue, or 
usurpation, been raised from indigence and obscurity to the 
imperial purple, and knew their own standing to be exceed- 
ingly precarious. The superstition of the people may also 
justly be supposed to have contributed to excile a spirit of 
intolerance, and persecution against a sect of men, who were 
represented to them by their priests as the persons who, by 
their contempt of the gods, drew down the wrath of heaven 
ypon the whole empire. It requires only a very little know- 
ledge of the effects of superstition, upon vulgar minds, to con- 
ceive that such notions, inculcated by their priests, would ex- 
cite the public voice against the Christians, as long as Pagan- 
ism continued the established and predominant religion of the 
empire. It appears, on perusing the histories of the different 
persecutions, that many of the governors of cities and pro- 
Tiaces were compelled by popular fury, to carry the laws 



Let. XIII. ON HISTORY. 165 

enacled against the Christians into execution more rigorously 
than thej would otherwise have done. 

Thus it appears, that different causes concurred to pro- 
duce those persecutions which filled the calendar with mar- 
tyrs, and peopled heaven with saints. The Supreme sjid 
ail-wise Being had, in the mysterious dispensations of his 
providence, ordained that the cruelty of wicked and uncon- 
scientious men should bring into light the courage and 
fortitude of his faithful worshippers, and shew that all the pow- 
er and policy of miankind, combined against Christianity, 
should only tend to demonstrate the feebleness of all human 
efforts acting in opposition to the Divine will. The blood of 
the martyrs was like seed sown in a fertile soil ; and the num- 
ber of Chrittians rapidly increased, notwithstanding the ha- 
•vock made among them by persecutors. In the latter part 
of the third century the church had enjoyed a long repose 
from persecution, and during this period of tranquillity had 
begun to grow opulent and conspicuous. The clergy had 
already begun to learn the art of exchanging their spiritual 
merchandise for the temporal riches of those who w^ere un- 
der their direction, and some of the prelates lived in splendor 
and opulence, as appears from the case of Paul, of Samosata. 
The Christians had lived in tranquillity, and enjoyed all the 
privileges of the other Roman subjects during the space of 
forty years, and were exceedingly favoured by the Emperor 
Dioclesian, w^hen a storm burst over their heads which seem- 
ed to threaten the entire extinction of Christianity. As pro- 
fessors had grown so numerous, and were so much favoured by 
that Emoeror, that the whole mass of the interested adherents 
and supporters of Paganism were alarmed at the increasing 
prevalence of a religion, which threatened its overthrow, and 
loudly called upon ihe Emperor to avert, by the extermination 
of the Christians, the vengeance of the gods ready to be 
poured upon the empire for tolerating the professed despi- 
sers of their worship. The Emperor, although he had pass- 
ed his life in camps, and was little versed in the principles 
and tendency of religious systems, was at first decidedly averse 
to intolerant measures It is asserted by several historians, 
that the infernal project was, during six months, in agitation, 
before he could be prevailed upon to give it the sanction of 
the imperial authority. The irnportunites of the priests, and 
the solicitationB of their abettors, grew daily more pressing ; 



166 LETTERS Let. XIIL 

but the Emperor resisted them a long time with inflexible 
firmness, and could not, without horror, look forward to 
the consequences of letting loose the blood-hounds of perse- 
cution against so great a number of his unoifending subjects. 
Maximin, whom he had made his colleague in the imperinl 
dignity, had already consented to the solicitations of (he ene- 
mies of Christianitj^, and Dioclesian, thus reluctantly signed 
the bloody edict. It was not long before the horrid execu- 
tion began to take place, and eveiy s|>ecies of cruelty which 
the infernal spirit of persecution could invent was exercised 
upon the professors of tha.t religion. / This was the most rig- 
orous persecution the church had ever experienced ; and it 
is supposed that a greater number of Christians suliered mar- 
tyrdom in this than in all the other persecutions.^ Britain was 
the only province of the empire that was free from its etlects* 
In this country the Christians found tranquillity and protect 
tion imder the equitable government of Constantius Chlorus,w 
father of the great Constantine, v/ho, although a Pagan, w^as 
decidedly averse to every kind of intolerance in religious 
matters, it being with him a fixed principle, that considering 
the variety of opinions concerning the most acceptable mode 
of worshipping the Supreme Being, all men being the chil- 
dren of one common Father, every one had an indisputable 
right to render his homage to the Universal Parent in the 
manner he himself thought the best. This just and liberal 
turn of mind in that Emperor afforded protection to the Chris- 
tians in that part of (he empire, w hich was under his imme- 
diate government, until Constantine, his son, having acquired 
the entire douiinion of the west, with Ijicinius, his colleague 
in the east, issued at Milan their famous edict of universal 
liberty of coiiScience, which immediately put a stop to the 
horrors of persecution in every part of the Roman world.. 
At this remarkable period of the history of (he church, we 
may pause a while in order to prepare for the contemplation 
of a new and extraordinary display of Divine Pro\ idence in 
the triumph of Christianity. 

I am, Sir, &Cc 

^. B. 



Let. XIV. ON HISTORY. 167 



LETTER XIY. 



SIR, 

OUR observations are now to be directed to a new and 
interesting scene, which began to be opened in the world, 
by the establishnient of Christianity in the Roman empire. 

When we contemplate the new and extraordinary aspect 
of human aiFairs at that momentous crisis, we cannot but 
consider the age of Constantine, as a distinct and most im- 
portant period in the history, both of the Roman empire and 
of the Christian religion. The reign of that Emperor forms 
the line of demarkation between the Pagan and the Christian 
world, between the predominance of that system of Poly- 
theism and idol-worship, which had during so many ages, dis- 
graced the reason and obscured the understanding of man, 
and the triumph of Christianity, which has ever since, in a 
more or less luminous manner shed its benign and irradiating 
influence on the human intellect. It may be asserted be- 
yond all possibility of contradiction, that the reign of Con- 
stantine has, by the establishment of Christianity, acquired a 
more extensive and lasting influence over the moral condi- 
tion of mankind, and the general ideas of the human mind, in 
all succeeding ages, than that of any other monarch who has 
ever appeared on the political theatre of the world. The 
Roman empire, v/hich Constantine governed, when in the 
acme of its greatness is now no more ; and the city of Con- 
sfantioople, which he founded, in order to perpetuate the glory 
of his reign, is now in the hands of a people who are enemies 
to the rehgion he so assiduously exerted himself to establish, 
and who, in his days were a nation totally unknown ; 
but, in the estabHshm.ent of Christianity, he has erected to 
his own memory a monument, more durable than brass or 
marble, a fabiic which will never fall to ruin, and which expe- 
rience shews, that no human efforts can overturn. 

Without entering into tedious details, it sulSces, in a gen- 
eral view of the occurrences of this important reign, to ob- 
serve, that Constantine, receiving intelligence of the sick- 
ness of Constantius Chlorus, his father, took this journey, 
or rather made his escape fromi Nicomedia, v^ here he then 



168 LETTERS Let. XI V. 

resided with Galerius, and travelling with extraordinaiy 
speed, arrived at York just in time to close the eyes of his 
dying parent, and to receive his last instructions, in which 
he is said to have exhorted him to rule with justice and cle- 
mency, and to have particularly recommended to his pro- 
tection the injured and oppressed Christians. Oonstantius 
being dead, Constantine was immediately proclaimed 
Emperor by the soldiery at York ; where, having receiv- 
ed ttie imperial purple, and performed the funeral rites, and 
the apotheosis of his deceased father, according to the Pa- 
gan custom, he set out for Gaul. It is inconsistent with our 
present purpose to attempt a particular detail of the circum- 
stances which concurred to make Constantine sole master of 
the Roman world. Historians have circumstantially related 
his signal victory over Maxentius, near the Milvian bridge, 
without the gates of Rome ; the two civil wars between him 
and Licinius ; the great battle of Adrianople, where Con- 
stantine is said to have performed prodigies of valour, unex- 
ampled in the annals of military exertion and achievement, 
and in their full extent, as related by historians, the avowed 
enemies of his fortune and his fame, absolutely incredible ; 
the siege of Byzantium ; the forcing of the passage of the 
Hellespont ; and the final defeat of Licinius at the battle of 
Chrysopolis, now Scutari, on the coast of Asia minor, oppo- 
site to Constantinople, are events of which no one is ignorant 
who has perused the narratives of the historians of that age. 

The motives which induced Constantine to embrace and 
establish Christianity, after he had waded through seas of 
blood to the sovereignty of the world, are variously delineat- 
ed by different writers, and merit, in an eminent degree, the 
attention of the historian and the moral philosopher. It is, 
indeed, extremely difficult, at this distance of time, to de- 
velope the motives which induced him to take so decided a 
step ; jei from general existing circumstances, accurately ex- 
amined, and justly estimated, we mpy, perhaps, form con- 
jei^tures mounting to the highest dgree of probability, and 
faimg but httle short of certainty. 

It has ever been the general opinion, that a conviction of 
the divine truth of the Christian religion was the motive, 
which impelled Constantine to embrace its doctrines, and to 
establish Christianity under the sanction of the imperial au- 
thority. However, Mr. Gibbon, and some other writers of 



Let. XIV. O?^ HISTOEY. f69 

these latter times, seem willing to excise a si?spicion, ll'at in- 
duce iienis of a political i;Htu<:e might bave vieierfrriiiei- Liiii 
in lli\oi!i- of that e:djaordin-iry measure. Vv iihoui p:e.S:nd- 
ina to iiivestigate ihe ^secret movements of the n hia ot a 
Diinee '/.ho rei.ned fciiitecti huivdred arid seveitiy years ago, 
a vriiiciy oi c; •^rariStaoces authorize us to question the p'o- 
piie.ty of Ml. Gibbon's supposition. That elegant ^Vl•:.'e^ 
imagines, that Constantine, reflectijig on the lUijovernable 
disposition of the Soojaiis, and the pjecarious tenure of the 
imperial purple, and obseryiog at the same ih;=e the peace- 
able manners of the Christians, might have supposed, that 
by establishing Cliristianity, the bloody reYohjtioos, which 
had brought so many ot the Empe.ors to an vnliniely death, 
might in a i^j eat measure be prevented ; and that by attach- 
ing the Christians to his iaterest, he n^ighi claim the sove- 
reignty of the empire by divine right for*1iimseh^ and his de- 
scendants, in imhation of the kings of Jiidah, who had, by 
that title, so kmg preserved iliQ crown in the family of David ; 
while the kings of Israel, who held the sovereignty by popu- 
lar favour, had frequently experienced the sanie fate as the 
Roman Emperors, w^hose power, hke theirs, was founded 
on popular, or rather on military election and support. In fa^ 
vourof this supposition, Mr. Gibbon harangues, tvithhis usii- 
. al fforidity of style, and fertility of imagination, as a person in 
love withhisown conjectures ; and supposes the Christian ora- 
tors, among whom Lactantiiis was the rrtost eloqoent, repre- 
senting to Constantine that he would be the David of the Ro- 
mans, and by the claim of Divine ri|iit, lay in his family the 
foundation of an empire to be tramsUiitted to r" ^ ' ^'i pos- 
terity. Isijpartial candor mii^t, however, coi _ ^ , aMhe 
existing circumstances, of the '^'o^: ■■:; empire, in that i^ge, 
were not such as authorize r.^ ;ja4hat Con^ii^intwe inn- 

braced the Christian reli^jo!] . . .-::v polificarr} O'h"'^' '"" in- 
ducements of a temporal nature ; v' ^ n< ■ - itii^lar-i ; o-o- 
quent, but romantic reayonng ( i :on, tlie disativan- 
tages-of such a measure, conside^euin a poliiiral view, ovv^r- 
balanced the advantages. At Constant Ine's accepjsion, and 
during the whole time of his reign, paganism was the idi.;!on 
of a vast majority of ihe empire, and a far greater pru t of its 
military strength lay among the pagans than among the 
Christians. According to the computation jn3ade bv Mr. 
Gibbon himself, the number of Christians lii Constantine's 

P 



170 LETTERS Let. XIV. 

reign -kl not exceed one twentieth part of the inhabitants of the 
empire ; a calcuiation which affords verj Wtiie ground to sup- 
pose that the Emperor should think of embracing, and estab- 
lishing Christianilj in order to render his sovereignf j more 
secure. It is even a circumstance that must excite the won- 
der of posteritj, that no revolt of the Pagans took place in 
consequence of this remarkable change ; and that expiring 
paganism, with so vast a superiority of strength on its side, 
made not one single struggle to avert its impending fate. It 
is certainly a phsenomenon in the history of the Roman em- 
pire which cannot be accounted for by any remarks that his- 
tory enables iis to make on the conduct of mankind on any 
similar occasion, and which can hardly be ascribed to any 
other cause under Divine providence, than the entirely des- 
potic slate of the Roman government, the great military re- 
putation of the Emperor, the inviolable attachment of the sol- 
diery to him during his life, and the extraordinary respect 
which they had for his memory after liis dcE^th. We cannot 
omit to remark, that the very supposition, that Constantine 
expected, by establishing the Christian religion, to reign by 
the title of ]3iviiie fight ; and to perpetuate that claim in his 
f\^mily, can hardly imply less than his conviction of the Di- 
vine authority of that religion, in consequence of which he 
might expect from heaven that support, which his estab- 
lishment of Christianity was not in the least calculated to pro- 
cure him from his Pagan subjects, in whom the principal 
strength of his empire consisted. 

If the celebrated vision of Constantine, which he is said 
to have seen in his march against Maxentius, and which, in 
connexion with his subsequent dream, is generally believed 
to have been the principal cause of his conversion, was a 
real fact, and not a religious fiction ; that circumstance alone 
is sufficient to deteniiine the question, and to silence all the 
arguments of those who would insinuate that he embraced 
' Christiiiriity from temporal motives. It is, perhaps, as cu- 
rious a piece of his lory as any recorded in the annals of 
the v/oild, and merits, iirtlie highest degree, the attention of 
the critic and the philosopher. 

We are informed that Constauiine, being in Gaul, was in- 
vited by the senate and ciiizens of Rome to undertake a war 
against Maxentius, who ruled in a tyrannical manner the ca- 
pital and the province which constituted his part of the em- 



Let. XIV. ON HISTORY. 171 

pire. Constantine, on receiving this iuvilalion, which he 
probably had solicited, irnmediatelj began his march lowaids 
the capital of the world. His troops consisted of veteran 
soldiers, but were far inferior in number to those he knew 
Maxentius would bring against hirn. He was marching 
against an enemy, from whom, according to the rules of v/ar 
among the rival Emperors and Generals of Rome, he was, in 
case of defeat, to expect no mercy. The enterprize in which 
he was engaged was of the most hazardous naljire, and the 
object of singular magnitude and importance. The point to 
be determined was, whether he should be sole Emperor of 
the west, or expelled from that part of the empire already 
under his dominion, and ambition prompted him to make the 
trial. One of our ecclesiastical historians fixes on ih'm criti- 
cal period of Constantine's life, to delineate the state of liis 
mind respecting religious matters, liis ideris of the nature of 
the Supreme Being, and his reflections on hm providential 
government and absolute disposal of all things ; as -riso on the 
mode of worship the most asceptable to Him. The deline- 
ation is curious and interesting', and althoufrh meiely con 
jectural, is not iffiprobable,( He saySj thai Constantine, med- 
itating on his perilous enterprise, the superior force he had to 
contend with, and the great uncertainty of success, began to 
make serious reflections on the Divine Providence, and the 
supernatural interposition of some great and unseen povver, 
w^hich has tBd ^sposal of human affairs; obssrving, attbe saoje 
time, that mosf of the Emperors, who adhered lo the wor- 
ship of that multifarious plurality of gods which the Parcan 
world adored, had come to a tragical end ; but that his father, 
Constantine, who it appe?irs had, like all the pL'ilosor liera, 
been rather a deist than an idolater, alivays worshipped one 
only Supreme Being and Sovereign of the universe, through 
whose all-powerful support he had been invariably Ruccesa- 
ful in his undertakings. In consequence of these reSectiong, 
says the historian, Constantine being in extreme uncertainty 
of ?iiind respecting the proper object of adoration, and the 
most acceptable mode of worshipping him, poured out the 
anxiety of his soul before the Lord of the universe, calling 
him to witness the sincerity of his heart, and beseeching him 
to enlighten his mind in regard to the right aianner of invok- 
ing his protection and assistance, whether through the me- 
dium of a plurality of divinities, according to the established 



ir2 LETTERS Let. XIV. 

rules of Pagan worship, or as oiie eteriTalPciK] undivided Uni- 
ty^ m conCofmity lo the precepts of the Chiistian religion. 
Tiiese are ingenioija coniecfures, bvA they are only con- 
jectures ; (he pfopriefjof Ihem may, however, be exrimined, 
and the iiivesligalion inerifs (he attention of the conleDipla- 
(ive observer, who delights to trace the causes and conse- 
qiieiices of great eveh.Uj and deveiope ihe operations of 
the human mind. 

In the precarions situation in vvhich Constantinethen stood, 
on uie point of decidirig a contest of snch importancCj on the 
issue of which his all depended, it is not difficult to conceive 
that he must have revolved in his mind reflections of a seri- 
ous nitnre ; and as it was the custom among Pagans more, I 
believe, than among niodernXJhristians, to look up for Divine 
assistance, it is not improbable, that the different, and indeed 
totally opposite opinion of the Christians and Pagans, relative 
to supernatural things, might excite some doubt in the mind 
of a thinking man, who found himself in a situation so much 
needing the protection of heaven, without knowing in what 
manner to ask it : for it is extremely probable that Constan- 
tino, and many other Pagans of that age, although not convin- 
ced of the truth of Christianity, haiJ but little coohdence in 
the gods they v/orshipped, and began shrewdly to suspect 
that the whole system of paganism was nothing more than an 
imposition on the minds of men. In that critical period, when 
paganism v^as on the decline, ancl rapidly lo|inlp credit, and 
Christianity not yet established, it is reasonable to suppose 
that the minds of men must have been much agitated in re- 
gard to religious subjects. Oil a survey of existing circum- 
stances of that age, we may, V>dthout hazard, conclude this 
to have been the case, unless we can suppose the nature and 
composition of the hsiman mind, at that time, to have been 
essentially different from what we experience it to be in our 
days, and from what it has been in every age, when matters 
of extraordinary impoitance, whether religious or political, 
liave been in an unsettled state. On the one hand they saw 
a system, which, from time immemorial, had attracted the 
veneration of mankind, frilling into disrepute, except among 
ils priests and other interested adherents. They" discovered 
that this system could gi^ e no satisfactory solution to that 
grand problem, the most important, the most difficult, and the 
most interesting of all others, whether death be a total ex- 



Let. XIV. ON HISTORY. 173 

tinction of being, oi;only a passage to a future state of exhi- 
ence. On the other hand, Ihey saw a new religion sprung 
up in the empire diametrically opposite to the rncient sys- 
tem ; a religion which inculcated infinitely morelunvinous and 
rational ideas of the nature and attributes of the Supreme Be- 
ing, and of the religious and moral duties of man, than pagan- 
ism had ever given ; and which, above ail, professed to solve 
the great problem of the future and final destiny of the human 
race, by teaching that the present life is only a state of pro- 
batioH, that all mankind are destined to a future and far more 
perfect state of being ; and that all, without distinction, most 
appear at the bar of the eternal Judge, to give an account of 
his conduct in this probationary state of existence, and r^.- 
c€ive the reward due to his works. The solution of tills 
most important problem, which had so long baffled the elForts 
of human reason, led to the unravelling of many others, 
which had exercised the genius, and eluded the researclies 
of the greatest philosophers of every age. The existence 
of evil, under the government of a Being infinitely wise, 
powerful, and good, was easily accounted for on this princi- 
ple of the probationary nature of this slate of mortal exist- 
ence, and the remuneration of moral good, with the punish- 
ment of moral evil in a future state, where all the seeming 
disorder of things here below shall terminate. The Chris- 
tian revelation unravelled those intricate and diiScuIt prob- 
lems, to which all the genius and learning of pliilosophers 
could give no satisfactory solution, and it laid claim to Divine 
authority to sanction its doctrines. The Pagans had seen 
ihe constancy, the fortitude, and even the cheerfulness with 
which the Christians suifered the most cruel tortures k^r 
their religion ; a circumstance for which they were unable to 
account, and which they would have deemed incredible, md 
they not been eye-witnesses. The thinking part of the Pa- 
gan world could not but be struck with the contemplation of 
so wonderful a moral phenomenon, and began to think that 
there might be something in Christianity with wlsich iliey 
were unacquainted. It is not possible to fix a more in- 
teresting period in the history of the human mind, tftn the 
fourth century, comprizing nearly that portion of i'lmej which 
elapsed between the commencement of the great persecvition 
under Dioclesian and Pvlaximian, to the total abo^i'ion of pa- 
ganism in the reign of Theodosius the great. During the 

P2 



^r4 LETTERS hm. XtV. 

whole of tbis period, but more especiall^'^ during the reign of 
Conri tannine, the Hoiiian world was fluctuating between two 
religious systems, diametiicaliy opposite to each other; for 
it must be observed that alihough Christianily was the reli- 
gion of the imperial court, from the time of Constantine, ex- 
cept in the short reign of Julian, yet the majority of the peo- 
ple continued Paj:ans till the reign of Theoclosius. It must, 
above ail, be considered, that the question which agitated the 
niinls of men in those days, was not merely concerning phi- 
lov.:phi-!'al opinions, like those disputes which exercised the 
reasoning faculties of the learned and ingenious in the preced- 
ing ages'; nor concerning forms and ceremonies, subordi- 
nate doctiines, verbal diiFerences, and such other non-essen- 
tials as have excited the cavils of theologians in latter times. 
The question related to essentials, to fundamental doctrines 
am' ideas ; and in line, to matters of the utmost impoitance 
to mankind. In this iliictaating and uncertain'state of the 
ii'j.man utide; standinii-. in regard to the most sei'ious and in- 
teresiing concerns of the species, it may, with great pioba- 
bility, be supposed that a man of vii^orous intellect, like 
Consfantine, wlio, ai{!ToiiK,h he had>been much :a;ore instructed 
in iMcticR flan philosophy, was iutored by experience in an 
elevated station, must have so netimes reflecfcd on siibjects 
of such sini;iilar importance, both in a political and moral 
Yhw. He could not have been an i-mobsei-ving spectator of 
what was going; forward in ihe vv'orld. and of the revolution 
which v/as taking; Dlace in the ideas of mankind. Wis cir- 
cumstances in lliat moment' -its crisis of his aliairs, when about 
to dispu-e the posgessiori of the metropolis of tlie world, the 
importance of the congest, and the magnitude of the object, 
were sufUcient to excite reflection, and. to induce a person so 
circumstanced to look up to a power possessing an unlimited 
eont' ol o\ er all mundane events. . 

When we contemplate the ci itical situation of Constantine, 
in ihe point of time alluded to, and presume to hazard con- 
jecture on the state of his mind, as influenced by such a com- 
bination of circumstances, we must allow this delineation of 
if, given by historians, to be perfectly consistent with proba- 
bihty, and extremely appropriate to such a character, in such 
a situation ; and in this critical moment the miraculous event 
@f that Emperor's celebrated vision is said to have happen- 
ed, whichj although it has obtained general credit through a 



Lkt. XIV. ON HISTORY. 17 b 

long succession of ages, has of late been called in question by 
several historians and critics ; especially by the enemies of 
Christianity, with whose tenets its authenticity is incompatible. 
Every circumstance in the life of so conspicuous a char- 
acter as Constanline must be interesting. The singular and 
important event which is supposed to have determined the 
conduct of that Emperor, In what has had the most decided 
influence on the condition of mankind, in all succeeding ages, 
merits in a pre-eminent degree, the. attention and examination 
of postei'ity. It is dilEcuit, it is perhaps impossible, either 
to ascertain the realit}' of the fact, or to prove it a fiction, 
with such foice of evidence, or even with such probability of 
conjecture, as may appear satisfactory to an ■ impartial in- 
quirer. All that can be done, is to bring forward to distinct 
inspection the chcumstances and arguments which seem ta 
stamp the mai'ks of authenticity upon the relation, as well as 
those wliich appear to diminish its credibility. Every one 
mu t, from the examination of circumstances and appearances, 
dra'v his own conclusions re-npectin^ the authenticity of this 
extraordinary narrative, which, in substance, is thus related : 
■ — -Constanline being on his march towards Rome, and re- 
volving in his mind the hazardous nature of his enterprize, 
and the iiiysterioiis dispensations of the Divine Providence, 
and fully convini ed of the all-con troliog power of an Omni- 
potent Being, whose name he knew not how to invoke, and 
whose favour he knew not how to ask, discovered in the air 
the figure of a resplendent cross, with this inscription legibly 
conspicuous : In hoc signo vinces. *'By this sign thou shalt 
overcome." Both he and his army v, ere astonished at the 
sight ; but not knowing how to interpret the celestial omen, 
and finding no satisiactory assurance from the established 
rules of Pagan interpretation he still remained in the utmost 
agitation of iniod, between hope and fear, between faith and 
unbelief. However it is added, that in the succeeding night 
Christ himself appeared to the Emperor in his sleep, display- 
ing before his eyes the same triumphant banner of the cross 
which he had seen in the air the day before, and unequivo^ 
caliy promised him victory over his antagonist, under its au- 
spices. Constanline immediately adopted the cross as his 
standard, aod caused its figure to be engraven on the shields 
of his soldiers ; and it is certain, that the Labarum, or cross, 
with the mysterious monogram, expressive of the name of 



ire LETTEKS Let. XIV. 

Christ, inclosed in a sort of crown, and placed on the top 
was used as the imperial standard, both during the reign of 
Constantine, and those of his successors. After this mira- 
culous vision and dream, Constantine, full of confidence, 
marched towards the capital of the world, and at the very 
gates of Rome gained that signal victory over Maxentius, 
which ended in the destruction of the tyrant, and placed the 
conqueror above all o pposition. The success of Constan- 
tine is certain, however doubtful the miracle preceding it 
may be esteemed. 

Eusebius bishop cf Caesarea, an historian of great and de- 
served celebrity, and generally esteemed of unimpeachable 
veracity, a man of extraordinary erudition, and an intimate 
confidant of Constantine, is the author of this narrative; and 
asserts, that he had the relation of that extraordinary circum- 
stance from the Emperor's own mouth, in private conversa- 
tion : so far the history seems to bear such a stamp of au- 
thenticity as few historical relations can boast. Few his- 
torians can produce such respectable authority for what 
they relate. The assertion of so celebrated an author, who 
declares that he received the whole nEirrative from the mouth 
of so great an Emperor, w^ho was a spectator of the prodigy 
and the very person for whose information it appeared, who 
was the principal actor in the undertaking of which it was 
intended to prognosticate the success, and who appears to 
have modelled his future conduct by the impressions he 
received from its appearance, stamps upon the relation al- 
most as indubitable a mark of truth as human testimony can 
give; andconsideringitonly in this point of view, and under 
these circumstances of probability, scepticism itself could 
scarcely doubt of the reality of the miracle. But after exam- 
ining the affirmative side of the question, if we turn the re- 
verse, it will appear that Eusebius related the circumstance 
some years after the death of Constantine, when he could 
neither attest the truth, nor expose the falsehood of the story. 
This circumstance, at least, if the narrative of Eusebius gave 
the first intelligence the world ever received of Constantine's 
vision, diminishes very much its credibility ; for it would, 
hideed, be very strange, if that emperor had never mention- 
ed so extraordinary an incident to any other person ; and, 
admitting this to be the case, we must confess the whole sto» 



Let. XIV. ON HISTORY. 177 

ly has so much fhe^kppearance of a pious fraud, that it can 
hardly claim a place in the historical creed of posterity. 

But are those, who call in question the veracity of Euse- 
blus, certain that the public were not intorined of this extra- 
ordinary vision before that writer undertook to transmit the 
partic (liars of it to posterity ? Does it not rather seem that the 
fact had been pubhshed, and had acquired a general notoriety 
before Eusebios wrote his narrative? The whole circum- 
stance appears to have been of such a nature as to be inca- 
pable of concealment. It is represented as having been visi- 
ble to the whole army, composed of a mixed number of 
Christians and Pagans ; and he is said to have consulted the 
Pagan priests and soothsayers, as well as the Christian di- 
vines, concerning the meaning of the mysterious omen. We 
are told that the Christians whom he consulted on the sub- 
ject of this celestial prodigy, having promised him certain 
victory under the invincible banner of the cross, he caused 
the Labafum to be made^ which he adopted for his military 
standard. If this be a just representation of the case, the 
thing was of such a nature, that it could not fail of being pub- 
licly known and talked of. Indeed it seems that if it had not 
been a fact of pretty general notoriety, Eusebius durst not 
have ventured to impose upon the world so romantic a tale, 
especially in connection with circumstances of so public a 
natui e, and so open to investigation ; that supposing it to have 
been fictitious, it must have been soon exploded and ridi- 
culed, both by Pagans and intelligent Christians. It appears, 
therefore, that the opponents of this miracle have given a 
wrons: statement of the case in. assertins that Eusebius first 
published it to the world. May it not rather be presumed, 
that the whole circumstance had before been publicly known, 
and that he being desirous of more accurate information than 
he could gather from common report, relative to an occur- 
rence of so extraordinary and so important a nature, had in- 
quired of the Emperor himself, for the purpose of obtaining 
a circumstantial account of it from his own mouth; and, con- 
sequently, that when Eusebius wrote his history, he only gave 
a more correct account of a thing well known before. This 
is neither a new nor extraordinary case. An author may 
undertake to transmit to posterity an event of general noto- 
riety, at the time in which he writes, and yet not be wiUing 
to rely on popular report for the source of his informatioH. 



irs LETTERS Let. XIV • 

He ought, if he would act Ihe part of a judicious and accu- 
rate historian, to consult such persons, if he knows where to 
find them, as are perfectly acquainted with the matter. In 
that respect Eusebius might be, and undoubtedly was, the 
first who published it to the world ; only if it was generally 
known before, which, if true, it must have been, he relates it 
not according to ihe common and popular accounts of it, but 
as he received it from the Emperor's own mouth. If the 
case be as it is here supposed, and as it appears extremely 
probable, the publication of this extraordinary circumstance, 
several years after Constantine's death, in the manner in 
which he heard it relatecl by him when living, has nothing 
uncommon in it, and consequently cannot authorize any im- 
peachment of the author's veracity. 

It appears from pretty good historical evidence, that the 
Labarum was not adopted by Constantine, as his military 
standard, until many years after this event. Constantine not 
being jet sole Emperor, he might, probably, for some parti- 
cular reasons, think it not proper to make any alteration in 
the military ensigns of the empire. Without attempting to 
fix the exact time when the LabariuD was first brought into 
use as the imperial standard, unbiassed reason must per- 
ceive, and candid impartiality must confess, that this is not 
an affair of such importance as to be of any weight in esti- 
mating the authenticity of the history in question ; for when 
the government of the empire was divided among a plurality 
of Emperors, it would have been an inconsistent, and, perhaps, 
a dangerous innovation to adopt the cross for the military en- 
sign of one division of the empire, while the eagles were dis- 
played in another. The most proper time for adopting the 
cross, as the imperial standard, was certainly after a Christian 
had become sole master of the empire. 

One important consideration, however, which tends, in no 
small degree, to render the whole affair of this celebrated 
miracle and vision somewhat doubtful, presents itself in a 
striking manner to the mind of the judicious and impartial in- 
quirer. It is a singular and inexplicable circumstance, that 
Constantine took no effectual measures to render so extraor- 
dinary an event as public as possible. A miracle of so une- 
quivocal, and so important a nature, exhibited in a moment so 
critical, in regard to the particular interests and political 
views of Constantine, as well as to the general interests of the 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. 179 

empire, and of Cbristianitj, ought to have been made univer- 
sally knovTn, by ail the means which the master of the Roman 
world could use. If Conslantine had well considered 6f what 
importance an accurate and authentic information of so stu- 
pendous a miracle v ould have been to the interests of Chris- 
tianity, and how much il concerned posterity to have unqsies- 
tionab(\? evidence of the fact, he would certainly have caused 
monuments to be erected in all the principal cities of his vast 
dominions, to commemorate the event, with inscriptions to 
explain the matter to hm Pagan subjects, and transmit to pos- 
terity the particulars of so meaiorabie ^ circumstance of his 
reign. It does not, however^ appear, that any thing of the 
kii;d was done ; and the reasons why it was not, must for ever 
remain auion^ those numerous historical uncertainties, which 
no criticism can decide, and which no sagacity of conjecture 
can develope. Those uncertainties may authorize us to 
doubt, but not to deny ; for, after the most minute and criti- 
cal investigation of this important piece of history, the most 
sagacious and impartial inquirer will find the varying proba- 
biUties so numerous and strong, and lying in such opposite 
directions, as to render it a difHcult task to discover on which 
side of the question the prepdnderancy of evidence lies. 

With this inquiiy concerning the authenticity of a miracle, 
which has excited the attention of all succeeding ages, I shall 
conclude this epistle; and although the matter in question 
cannot be positively determined, I can, at least, confidently 
assure you, that with unfeigned respect, 
I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER XV. 



SIR, 



AFTER endeavouring to investigate the motives which 
determined Constantino to embrace Christianity, and estab- 
lish it in the Roman empire, by the imperial sanction, those 
who delight to trace the history of the human nn'nd, will natu- 
rally feel their curiosity excited to inquire into the state of 
religion during the remainder of this memorable reign ; and 



180 LETTERS Let. XT. 

will, in the course of their inquiries, find abundant matter for 
observation and reflection. 

During the three first centuries, Ghristianitj had, in its 
gradual progress, as a sjstefn uniting a body of men under 
certain rules and ordinances, undergone divers changes, 
although its fundamental doctrines continued invariably the 
sanse. Principles, founded on the basis ol eternal truth, must 
for ever remain true. Neiiher lapse of time, nor any change 
in the circumstances and opinions of men, can make any al- 
teration in the nature of what is intrinsically true. But a 
number of forms, cei eiiicnies, and subordinate opinions, are 
naturally connected wi^h those fixed principles, which con- 
stitute the basis of religion; and these are variable. In 
every community, reli;^ions or political, certain laws and re- 
gulations are necessary for the welfare of its members. The 
laws and regulations of political goverument aj e calculated for 
the particular circumstances, moral or physical, of each com- 
munity, and must be varied in conformity to the variation of 
circumstances, and the vicissitudes of human affairs. Hence 
arises the difference of political systems. The ceremonial 
part of religion, with its particular institutions and ordinances, 
may Hkewise be varied according to the various circumstances 
of different ages, and of different nations ; and have always 
been considered, by moderate and liberal minded men, as va- 
riable without any detriment to leading doctrines and funda- 
mental truths. This marks the distinction between essen- 
tials and non-essentials in religion. In the commencement of 
Christianity, when its professors were few in number, and 
t^ie general tranquillity of the church undisturbed by the 
jarring interest of its members, the ecclesiastical system, was, 
as it may reasonably be supposed, of the simplest kind. In 
proportion as the number of Christians increased, the vari- 
ous regulations, for the maintenance of order, were necessa- 
rily multiplied. The dignitaries of the church were, at first 
elected by the joint suffrages of the clergy and the people ; 
but, in process of time, the tumult and disorder attending 
popular elections, caused the suffrages of the people to be 
laid aside, and the clergy alone claimed and exercised the 
right of electing their bishops, but after Constantine had giv- 
en to the Christian religion tJie sanction and support of the im- 
perial authority, the election of its prelates came directly, or 
indirectly, under the control of the emperor. During the 



^ 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. 181 

reigns of the Pagan Emperors, the Christians had become a 
tolerably opulent class of people ; but when their religion 
had received the imperial sanction, a new scene opened in 
the church under the auspices of Conslan(ine. This w^as 
the golden age of Ecclesiastics. Before that important period 
some churches had been liberally supported by the devo- 
tion and zeal of wealthy individuals : but yet the situation 
of the clergy was insecure and contemptible in the eyes of 
the Pagan world ; but after*?, ards they Hved in princely 
splendor, honored and esteemed as the first rank of men in 
the empire. Formerly they had been sunk in the gloom of 
obscurity, but now they basked in the bright sujishine of 
honour, wealth, and imperial favour ; the contrast between 
their present and former situations giving their prosperity a 
higher relish. To a person who contemplates the aspect of 
the Roman empire, in that agCj^a new world seems to appear. 
The system of polytheism and idol-worship, which, from 
time immemorial had, by its pompous ceremonies and 
splendid festivals, commanded the veneration of mankind, 
fallen into disrepute; and Christianity, which had so long 
been the object of universal contempt, and frequently of cru- 
el persecution, at last triumphed over ail opposition, and the 
established religion of the masters of the world. The Ro- 
man empire saw magnificent churches erected for the wor- 
ship of the crucified God, whose name had so long been de- 
spised, and the rites of the Christian religion celebrated with 
a pomp and solemnity, equal, if not superior to what had 
been displayed in the Pagan temples. A total revolution 
was taking place in the texture of religious opinions, and the 
coinbination of human ideas. What a scene would this have 
appeared to a Chiistian of the apostolic age, or of that which 
immediately succeeded ! And how wonderful and striking a 
spectacle must it have exhibited to those who had lived in 
the time of the last dreadful persecution under DIoclesian, 
Maximin, and Galerio?, and had witnessed the contempt in 
which the Christian religion had been held, as well as the ab- 
ject state of its professors! To such observers, however, an- 
other part of the scene must have appeared no less extraor- 
dinary. They would view, with no small astonishment, the 
new ly acquired opulence and splendor of churchmen. They 
would see ecclesiastics possessing princely fortunes, and 
living in a luxurious manner. What would a Christian, whose 



162 LETTERS Let. XV. 

mind had been formed, whose religious ideas had been mod- 
elled, by the simple and disinterested maxims of primitive 
Christiaiiitj, think, on seeing the ministers of the humble and 
lowlj Jesus, who had not a place wherein to shelter his head,/ 
displaj the magnificence of sovereign princes ? And what 
must have been his reflections, on contempiating a sjsteoj of 
honour and emolument, set up by the proiessed followers of 
one whose whole life was a continued scene of poverty and 
sufferings, and whose preaching and practice were entirely 
calculated to inspire all those who embraced his doctrine, 
with a sovereign contempt for the things of this v/orld. 

In the reign of Constantine the church was enriched; but 
it evidently appears that the spirit of genuine Chidstianity 
was, in a great measure, extinguished. The Emperor an- 
nexed pr incely salaries tci the different prelacies ; and the pre- 
lates, and other ecclesiastics, ijjpou began to lose sight, not on- 
ly of that humility and contempt of the world, of which the 
great Author of their religion had given so striking an exam- 
ple, but also of that difilisive charity and universal benevo- 
leDce v/hich Christianity so strongly inculcates. Ecclesi- 
astical history, which hat! hitherto exhibited an horrible and 
sanguinary scene of the sufferings of the church, under Pagan 
persecalors, then began to display a not less disgusting view 
of the persecution of Christians by the hand of Christians, 
carried on with a cruelty hide short, in some instances, of 
that which the Pagans had before exercised against them. 

Before the expiration of the apostolic age, different opin- 
ions in religious matters began to arise among Christians. . It 
is Dot, at ihh distance of time, an easy task to develope the 
opinions mi^ tenets of those ai^ciesit heretics, as most of their 
Writiogs have been long since lost or destroyed ; conse- 
quently the knowledge we can have of them most be col- 
lected froiu tiift representations of their enemies of the ortho- 
dox par(y ; and daily experience shews how much contro- 
versial writers are prone to misrepresent the doctrines of 
their oppoiKvnts. Some of their opinions, however, have 
been trans-aiiied to o:?, perhaps, without ■ any consider- 
able ^'.didleralion, and even adopted by modern sectaries. 
Cerinthiis, a heretic, as he is styled, who lived before the ex- 
piration of the iii'ai century, is supposed to be the first who 
broached thedoctriiie of the millennium, founded on some dif- 
ficult and obscure passages of the Apocalypse. This opin- 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. 183 

ion has travelled down to our own times, and is held by a 
great number of learned, respectable, and pious people ; but not 
with those extravagancies attributed to the Cerinlhians. The 
Manicheans, who taught the co-eternal existence of a good 
and an evil principle, were also a conspicuous sect in the pri- 
mitive ages; and the seism of the Donatists long divided the 
church into two opposite parties. The difFeient sects of- 
Christians, who have been branded with the name of heretics, 
are two numerous to be mentioned in a general view of things ; 
much less is it possible to investigate their tenets, as thej un- 
doubtedly branched out into a variety of ramifications, which 
has ever been the case in regard to religious opinions. It 
may, however, be remarked, that one great, and perhaps 
principal cause of those various opinions among Christ iaiis, 
was their attempting to blend the speculations of Pagan phi- 
losophj'^, and the prejudices of Jewish tradition, with the doc- 
trines of Christianity. It is an observation which ought not 
to escape our notice, that all the proselytes to fjlnietiarric y 
having been educated in the Jewish or Pagan religions, arid 
many of them, advanced in years at the time of their conver- 
sion, it is perfectly consistent with the nature of the hum an 
mind, that they should still retain many of their ancient pre- 
judices, and ■ ct many Jewish and Pagan notions, or meta- 
physical subjects, would be introduced into the Christian 
system. Ideas once deeply impressed, and remaining long in 
the mind, are not easily eradicated. Besides, when a niun- 
ber of individuals think and reason on any abstract s abject, it 
is, perhaps, impossible that they should all think alike. It is, 
indeed, hardly possible, in regard to things which may be 
brought under the inspection of the senses. The ideas and 
operations of the human m.ind are influenced by a thousand 
adventitious circumstances ; diiTerent men see things in cif- 
ferent points of view, and consequently form different com-- 
binations of ideas. By this reason different opinions in reli- 
gious matters must always exist. 

During the predominance of Paganism those quarrels 
among Christians were held under restraint : while Cbris» 
tians of every description, orthodox or heterodox, without 
distinction, saw the sword of persecution drawn against them, 
or at least suspended over their heads, their mutual rancour 
was, if not softened, at least confined to the efforts of the Dcn 
OX the anathemas of intolerant zeal ; but as soon as Chris*- 



184 LETTERS Let. XV. 

tianity, triumphant over the comtnon enemy, had obtained 
the sanction, and could claim the support of the imperial au- 
thority, the ditfevent sects of Christians bes^an to manliest to- 
wards one another a degree of animosity almost equal to the 
rancoor of the pagan persecution. 

The diiference of opinion on theological subjects, which 
caused the greatest division in the church, a division of the 
longest duration, and which makes the most conspicuous fig- 
ure io the history of the Christian religion, of any that had 
happened prior to the reformation begun by Luther, was that 
which is commonly known by the rsame of the Arian heresy. 
Of ail the philosophers of autiqup-, Plato bad permitted his 
sublime gejiius to take the most daring fiighis, in attempting 
to explore the incomprehensible nature of fbe Supreme Be- 
ing, the great first cause and self-existent Author of all exist- 
ence. This Athenian philosopher having elevated his mind 
to the contemplation of the Deity, could not otherwise com- 
prehend the divine essence than under the threefold modifi- 
cations of infinite power, perfect wisdom, and dilTusive good- 
ness. Those conceptions he expressed by the names of the 
Great t'irst Cause, or Origin of AH — the eternal Reason or 
Wisdom, which he called Logos — and the Soul or Spirit, 
which pervades and animates the universe. His poetical im- 
agination personified those abstract ideas ; and in the piatonic 
system those three original principles are represented as three 
distinct beings, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; co- 
equal, co-eternal and indissolubly united, forming a mjsteri- 
ous triad in one incomprehensible unity. 

This sublime and mysterious definition of the Divine na- 
ture is denominated the Trinity of the Platonists, and comes 
nearer to the fundamental doctrines of revelation than could 
be expected from the eiForts of unassisted reason. St. Au- 
gustine, with othersof the primitive fathers, admiring the sub- 
lime conception of Plato, says, that with a trifling change, that 
great philosopher might be deemed a Christian ; and the Pla- 
tonists asserted, that the beginning of St. John's gospel was 
an exact transcript of his principles. 

The sanction given by scriptural testimony to the funda- 
mental principles of Plato's theology was a strong induce- 
ment to the learned Christians, of the second and third cen- 
turies, to study ihe writings of that incomparable philosopher, 
whose penetrating and comprehensive genius was supposed 



Let. XV« ON HISTORY. 185 

to have anticipated the doctrines of revelation, and formed 
those conceptions of the divine essence which the Christian 
system sanctioned and confirmed. The remote consequen- 
ces, and possible inferences, of Plato's hypothesis were inves- 
tigated in all their rannlications ; and subtle and inexplicable 
questions were raised and agitated concerning the nature, 
equality, and distinction of the Divine Persons of the indivi- 
sible triad and mysterious unity, questions undoubtedly above 
the comprehension of the most exalted human understanding ; 
but yet the prying and restless curiosity of philosophers ex- 
cited them to explore the secrets of the profound abyss ; and 
the same spirit of curiosity actuated the Christian theologians, 
and the Pagan philosophers, in the schools of Athens and 
Alexandria. 

Those inquiries, concerning the mysterious and incompre- 
hensible nature of the Deity, had exercised the minds of the 
learned Pagans merely as philosophical speculations. The 
case was altered wlien the same inquiries began to engross 
the attention of Christian divines. When the eternal Logos, 
the Word, or the Son of God, had been revealed as the ob-^ 
ject of the faith and religious worship of mankind, and the 
basis of their hopes, a clear conception, or rather an implicit 
belief of these unfatliomable mysteries, was deemed essential 
lo their eternal interests. These subtle disquisitions became 
general, agitating the minds of Christians every where, and 
at last threw the whole church into a state of confusion and 
discord. Christians were in doubt what opinion they ought 
to entertain concerning the nature and person of Christ. 
These points had not yet been determined by the autho! itj 
of the united and universal church; and every one modelled 
his opinion by the light of his own understanding. The ma- 
jority held the doctrine of the Divine Nature of Christ, and 
the perfect equality of the three Persons of the Trinity ; 
while a very numerous body, with Arius, a priesf, of Con- 
stantinople, at their head, maintained that the Son is essen- 
tially distinct from the Father, and subordinate to him ; that 
he is a spontaneous and dependent being, created by the su- 
preme will of the Father, and begotten before all worlds ; 
that the Father had impressed upon him the effulgence of his 
glory, and transfused into him the fulness of his spirit ; that 
he was the framer of the world, and that he govesns ihe uni- 
verse in obedience mid subordination to the first Person of 

Q2 



*86 LETTERS Let. XT. 

the Trinity, his Father and Soveieign. Such were the ab- 
struse doctrines and intricate questions which agitated the 
Christian world and disturbed the tranquilHty of the church, 
during the long period of almost three hundred years ; but es- 
pecially in the fourth century, when the worshippers of the 
God of mercy and love, the pretended imitators of the peace- 
able and benevolent Redeemer, having acquired the support 
of secular power, divided themselves into opposite and hostile 
parties, thundering out curses against each other in the name 
of him, who from heaven descended upon earth to bless man- 
kind. 

It may easily be conceived, that Constantine, on seeing the 
professors of Christianity divided into two opposite factions, 
could not, without regret, conte.T.piate those divisions which 
rent the church, and disgraced that religion which he had 
made it so much the object of his endeavours to establish. 
In order to settle the dispute, and ascertain the real principles 
of the Christian faith, he convoked the celebrated Council of 
Nice, A. D. 3*25, which consisted of 318 bishops and other 
ecclesiastics, to the number of 2048. After a session of two 
months, in which the Emperor frequently assisted in person, 
the opinions of Arius were condemned, the equahty of the 
three Persons of the Diviie Trinity was declared the triie 
doctrine, and the resolutions of this council, comprised in the 
Nicene Creed, were published, as the obligatory and only or- 
tliodox Creed of the Christian church. 

Constantine had, before he embraced the Christian reli- 
gion, established liberty of conscience upon the broadest and 
most rational basis ; nor does it appear that he ever exevcised 
any kind of persecution against the Pagans, nor would such a 
measure, indeed have been consistent with good poHcy, as, 
during the v/hole of his reign, they composed a vast majority 
of his sribiects. Hov/ever, soon after the Council of Nice, he 
began to persecute the Arians. He banished Arius into II- 
lyrium, and excluded the Arian clergy from the reward? and 
immunities so liberally bestowed on the Catholics. He af- 
terwards issued an edict, absolutely prohibiting all assemblies 
of Arians, and other dissenters, under pain of confiscation of 
property. This was the first disausting instance of the per- 
secution of Christians by Christians armed with secular pow- 
er ; fjiit the example has been followed by a long train of im- 
itations. There is ao doubt, however, of the Emperor's conr 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. UT 

duct, in this respect, being swayed by the insinuations of ec- 
clesiastics, whose secret motives he was not able to discover 
and better skilled in marshalling and conducting an army, 
than in the stratagems of theological warfare, he might easily 
be impelled by their counsels to violent and even contradic- 
tory measures. In fact, we see him, at the instigation of a 
faction of bishops, recalling Arius ; and so far misled by an 
exhibiti#n of false charges, as to persecute Athanasius, the 
champion of the council of Nice, and the strenuous assertor 
of its doctrines, which the Emperor zealously supported, and 
considered as the orthodox representation of the Christian 
faith. 

The reign of Constantine teems with great and important 
events; among which may be reckoned, the building of Con- 
stantinople on the site of the ancient Byzantium, and the re- 
moval of the seat of empire from Rome to that new Capital. 
The residence of the Imperial Court had, in fact, been remov- 
ed from Rome abo it thirty years before. The associate 
Emperors, Dioclesian and Maximin, did not reside at Rome : 
he formerly resided at Nicoraedia, and the latter mostly at 
Milan^ Galernis resided at Nicomedia ; Constantius Chlo- 
rus at York ; and during the space of thirty years before the 
foundation of Constantinople, Rome had seldom enjoyed the 
presence of her emperors. 

The removal of the imperial residence from Rome to Con- 
stantinople has been exceedingly censured by many writers, 
and assigned as one of the principal causes of the downfal of 
the empire. This point is, however, very difficult to deter- 
mine. We cannot be assured ; we cannot, from general ap- 
pearances, even suppose that the subversion of the empire 
would not have happened as soon if the imperial residence 
had continued at Rome. The reason which induced Con- 
stantine to fix it at Byzantium, in preference to Rome,, are 
equally unknown. Jt is supposed that Dioclesian and Max- 
imin havina: concerted a plan of administration, more regular- 
ly and systematically despotic than any of the preceding Em- 
perors, and being; desirous of abolishing all the republican 
forms which stili existed, and of setting entirely aside the noTi» 
inal authority which the senate still possessed, had fixed their 
residence at a distance from the ancient metropolis of the em- 
pire, in order to avoid being incommoded by the petitions, 
representations, and remonstrances of that august body. 



188 LETTERS Let. XT- 

Constantine was, probably, actuated in some degree by the 
same aiotives ; for his adjuinistration was still more despotic 
than that of Dioclesian and Maxinain ; and he completed that 
system of despotism which those Emperors had begun. Be- 
fore the joint reign of the above-mentioned E.nperors, the se- 
nate had generally been consulted, at least for the sake of' 
form, although that did not alter the real despotism of the go- 
vernment ; for the senate scarcely ever failed of being confor- 
mable to the will of the Emperor, while the Emperor himself 
was at the disposal of the praetorian guards, or the legionary 
soldiers. Dioclesian, soon after his accession, adopted the mode 
of transacting affairs without the formality of consulting the 
senate ; and after Constantine had removed the seat of empire 
to Constantinople, the senatorial dignity was no oiore than an 
honorary title, and the senate could scarcely be reckoned a 
constituted order in the state. Some attribute Constantine's , 
choice of a new capital to a dislike he had taken against Rome, 
on account of the enthusiastic attachment of the city to Pagan- 
ism. It must, however, be confessed, that the situation of 
Constantinople was, in almost every respect, infinitely pre- 
ferable to that of Rome ; and, in taking a view of the extent, 
situation, and circumstances of the Roman dominions, Con- 
stantinople and Milan must have presented themselves as the 
most eligible stations for the commanders of the military force 
of the empire. Milan, situated near the northern frontier of 
Italy, was a post peculiarly adapted for that purpose ; for 
there the Emperor might a.lways be in readiness to repel tiie 
predatory inroads of the German nations ; who, in the reign of 
Aurelianus, had thrown Rome itself into a state of alarm and 
consternation. And Constantinople was the most eligible sit- 
uation in the whole empire, both as a check to the Persians, 
and as a barrier against the incursions of the Goths, those ter- 
rible enemies of Rome, who, in their wicker boats, issuing 
from the mouths of the Danube, frequently sailed through the 
Bosphorus and the Hellespont, plundering and desolating 
Greece, and Asia Minor; and, in the reign of Gallienus, 
threatened nothing less than an entire devastation of all the 
eastern parts of the empire, from the Euphrates to the Adri- 
atic sea. That formidable invasion was notj without great 
difficulty, and prodigious slaughter, at last repelled by the 
military abilities and vigorous efforts of the Emperor Claudi- 
fis ; and in the reign of Probus, the Germans having made a 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. 189 

dreadful eruption into Gaul, were driven out by that Empe- 
ror with an incredible slaughter. From that time, however, 
the Goths and Germans were terrible enemies to the Roman 
empire. Having tasted the rich plunder of its provinces, 
they never failed to seize every opportunity of making preda- 
torv incursions. For that reason the residence of the Empe- 
rors, with the main body of the military force, at Milan, or in 
some station in the eastern provinces, not far from the Dan- 
ube and the Euxine sea, was more necessary, and more con- 
ducive to the safety of the empire, than if it had always been 
fixed at Rome. 

If we consider, not only the geographical position, but also 
the topographical situation of Constantinople, with a beautiful 
and picturesque arrangement of the land and water which 
form its environs, we shall easily be convinced of the eligibil- 
ity of its situation, and of the preference due to it when com- 
paied with that of Rome. They are both in a temperate 
chmate, Rome being situated in 41**, 50', North latitude; 
and Constantinople in 4 1 *^, 10' North latitude. Constantino- 
ple is situated on an elevated ground, consisting of gently 
swelling eminences, rising like terraces one above another, 
without any of those deep vallies which separate the seven 
hills on which Rome is situated ; and which, together with 
the marshes adjoining to the Tyber, rentier the air unwhole- 
some. The city was Md out in a triangular form, and fill- 
ed the triangle formed by the harbour, the Bosphorus, and 
the Proponiis, or Sea of Marmora. The harbour on the 
north side of ^he city, is secure and capacious, being five hun- 
dred yards vvide at its entrance, from the Bosphorus, and runs 
seven miles into the land. From the Euxine sea to the Se- 
raglio point, the whole length of the Bosphorus extends about 
18 miles, and its ordinary breadth about a mile and a half; 
but in many places somewhat broader, and in some much 
narrower, with several beautiful windings. In sailing up the 
Propontis, towards Constantinople, the most enchanting pros- 
pects charm the eye of the navigator, who, from every part 
of that, may discover the high lands of either Thrace or By- 
thisica, and ne\er loses sight of Mount Olympus, till at last 
the city itself, rising from the strand, attracts his view, and 
exhibits the most magnificent appearance. Constantinople 
may, by its situation, command the comiricrce of the vast 
regions of the North, by means of the Euxine sea, and the 



190 LETTERS Let. XT. 

rivers Don and Dnieper, which discharge themselves into it. 
By the streight of the Hellespont, which forms the commu- 
nication between the Propontis and the Mediterranean, as the 
Bosphorus opens a passage from the Euxine sea to the Pro- 
pontis, it is equally well situated for the trade of the south 
and west ; and when Egypt is under its dominion, its posi- 
tion is extremely advantageous in respect of the trade to In- 
dia and the eastern coasts of Africa. In fine, geographers 
commonly tell us, that Constantinople is tlie most eligible sit- 
uation for commerce that can any where be found ; and when 
we cast our eyes upon the map, its geographical position 
seems to indicate the same. We may, however, be impos- 
ed on by iinquaiiiied descriptions, and general appearances. 
Geographers, as well as historians, are not always correct; 
and the omission of one single circumstance will sometimes 
alter very much the description, as the want or the distor- 
tion, of one single object, changes materially the appearance 
of the picture or landscape. The situation of Constantino- 
pie, considered in a commercial point of view, has one great 
defect, and is, in that respect, much inferior to London, Lis- 
bon and several other ports. The length of the Hellespont 
is not less then sixty miles, and its ordinary breadth not more 
than three miles, but in many places much narrower. A 
strong current sets through the Bosphorus, the Propontis, 
and the Hellespont, from the Euxine sea, into the Grecian 
Archipeia2;o, and a strong north wind often blows in that re- 
gion during several months ; which, together with a strong 
current setting in the same direction, through so narrow a 
streight, sometimes render Constantinople, for a long time to- 
gether, almost inaccessible to vessels coniing fiom the Med- 
iterranean. Those ports, which are situated on the ocean, 
or on large rivers, which have an immediate communication 
with it, have a great advantage over those which are situat- 
ed on the inland seas; such as the Mediterranean, Euxine, 
Baltic, &c. or on the rivers which fall into them, in having 
the tides to facilitate the approach and entrance of vessels, 
in case of a calm or contrary winds; whereas the latter, in 
similar cases, possess not that advantage ; and if a strong 
wind sets in the same direction, with a strong current, their 
aggregate force is so great, that it is almost impossible to 
nTake head against it. This is the great disadvantage of the 
commercial situation of Constantinople, which the strong 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. 191 

north winds, that often blow in those parts, the rapid cur- 
rent alwajs setting from the Euxhie, and the long and nar- 
row strieght of the Hellespont, all combine, at certain times, 
to render it almost unapproachable. It must, however, be 
granted, that Constantinople enjoys an excellent commercial 
situation, although not the best that can be found, as it has 
been often asserted. Its position was also the most eligible 
that Constantine could have chosen for his new capital, it be- 
ing a most commanding post for repelling the attacks of the 
enemies of the. empire, and almost unequalled in regard to 
the pmenitj and beauty of its situation. 

Although historians may conjecture, that the removal of 
the imperial residence contiibuted to hasten the downfal of 
the empire, it is a certain fact, that the fixing of it at Con- 
stantinople, put a final period to the passage of the barbari- 
ans through the Bosphorus, who could never after force that 
insurmountable barrier ; and Greece, as well as Asia Minor, 
was secure from their ravages, until Valens unadvisedly suf- 
fered the Goths to pass the Danube, and received their arm- 
ed b^nds into the heart of the empire. In after ages Con- 
stantinople presented j^n insurmountable obstacle to the pro- 
gress of the Persians, under Chosroes, and resisted all the 
attacks of the Avans, the Goths, and other northern enemies. 
During the existenc®^f the Caliphate, that city was the bul- 
wark of Europe against the Saracens ; and fell a prey to 
the Turks so late as, A. D. 1453, one thousand and forty- 
three years after Rome was taken and plundered by Alaric, 
and nine hundred and seventj^-seven years after the entire 
subversion of the Trestern empire. Indeed, no good reason 
can be given why the empire might not have been as well de- 
fended, when Constantinople was the capital, as if Rome had 
always retained that prerogative ; and it is no improbable 
conjecture, that if the imperial residence had not been re- 
moved to Constantinople, all the eastern part of the empire 
would have fallen a prey to the Persians, on the one hand, 
and to the Goths on the other, without prolonging, for any 
considerable time, the existence of the western empire. 

Among the reflections which naturally arise from the con- 
templation of a period so important, and so interesting to 
posterity, as the reign of Constantine, it is impossible not to 
remark, that, while he governed the Roman empire with a 
more distinguished lustre than most of his predecessors, and 



192 LETTERS Let. XVe 

was uniformly successful in every political measure, as he 
had invariably been in every military enterprise, his person- 
al tranquillity was considerably disturbed by the disputes of 
theologians, and the intrigues of ecclesiastics. His domestic 
felicity also suffered a melancholy abatement, from the neces- 
sity he found, or imagined that he found himself under, of 
putting to death his son Crispus, a prince of the most pro- 
mising accomplishments ; whose mind had been formed by 
the precepts of the learned and eloquent Lactantius ; \vho 
had been trained to arms under the victorioiis banners of his 
imperial father, and had signalized his courage and conduct, 
in so conspicuous a manner, in the memorable forcing of the 
passage of the Hellespont, in the last and decisive contest 
between Constantine and Licioius. The particulars of this 
melancholy transaction are variously related by historians ; 
and the whole aiiair seems to have been conducted in so 
mysterious a manner, that we can be certain of nothing but 
the fact itself, without being die to deveiope the circumstan- 
ces which wei'e the cause of it. This reflection, however, 
we cSiUiot b!it make, that it was either a great crime on 
Constantine, or a great misfortune to him. Hard must his 
heajt have been, if he could thus destroy so accomplished 
and promising a son, without a full conviction of the absolute 
necessity of so severe a measure ; and ke must be pronounc- 
ed extremely unfortunate, if such necessity did really exist. 
It is, however, a remarkable fact, that some of the greatest 
men, both in ancient and modern times, have been extreme- 
ly imhappj in their domestic concerns. The rebellion of 
Absalom against his Father David, and its tragical issue ; 
the murder of Sennacherib, in the temple of the god Nis- 
roch, by the hands of his ow n sons Adrammelie and Share- 
zar; the severities which Augustus Cassar was obliged to 
use against his only child, his daughter Julia, on account of 
her scandalous life ; and the havoc which Herod the Great 
made in his own family, by the execution of his beautiful and 
bebved wife Mariamne, his two most promising sons, and 
otiieis of his near relatives, may be adduced as instances, 
ar!iong a great number of others which occur in ancient his- 
to' y, that ihe highest degree of human power, exaltation, 
and splendor, do not always exempt their possessors from 
do Ae^tic mfp.Vic'iiy, no more than from personal misfortune, 
and the ordinary sufferings of moitaiiiy. To these instan- 



Let. XVI. ON HISTORY. rs.S 

ces, and many others in ancient history, may be added, a 
number of a similar naiure, in modern times ; among whirh, 
the iragical catastrophe of Don Carlos, son of Philip the 
Second, of Spain ; and that of the Czarowitz, son of the im- 
mortal Peter the Great, of Russia, stand as conspicuous and 
distinguished proofs of the uncertain and fluctuating nature 
of all human ielicity. 

I am, Sir, yours, &c. 
J. B. 



LETTER XVL 

SIR, 

I CONCLUDED my last with some serious and striking 
reflections on the imcertainty of human greatness, as a 
source of personal felicity. The subsequent state of Rome, 
from this epoch of its unparalleled power and grandeur, which 
we have just been contemplating, will exhibit a memorable 
instance, that the greatness of nations, as well as of individ- 
uals, is liable to the most melancholy and striking vicissi- 
tudes ; and that national, as well as individual prosperity and 
felicity, are of an uncertain tenure. 

Our observations being now brought forward to that period, 
when Rome no being longer considered as the seat of em- 
pire, had passed the meridian of her splendor, and saw her 
glory begin to diminish, our curiosity is naturally exciiea to 
examine the state of that celebrated city, when in the acme 
of its gTeatness. It would be a pleasing gratification, if , any 
of the ancient writers had furnished us with the means of 
comparing the most remaikable cities of the ancient world, 
with those of modern times, especially io regard to popula- 
tion. This is a desideratum io history which cannot be ob- 
tained ; and it is particularly surprising (bat none of the lit- 
man historians have left us any accoimt of the population of 
Rome. It could not, indeed, be supposed, that th;jii- ca'ctf- 
lations, in this respect, would have been exact; biit thoy 
might.^certainly have met with authentic documertts, snfBcient 
to have enabled them to come to a tolerabl} jear approxi- 
mation, in computing the number of the inhabituiits r°- " ^ 

R 



194 LETTERS Let. XVL 

celebrated metropolis of the world ; and if their computa- 
tioBS had not been very wide of the truth, they might, at least, 
have regulated our conjectures. The moderns, who huve 
examined the subject, andgiven us the resnlt of their research- 
es, have differed so widely in their opinions on the subject, 
that their conjectures tend rather to mislead than to disect us 
in forming any conclusion. To point out a few of them,' 
will shew how widely they disagree, and how litde we can 
depend on their representalions. Mr. Martin, says, in his 
jtravels, that, in the reign of the first Claudius, the inhabitants 
of Rome amounted to 6,986,000 ; but, says he, those of the 
subuibs must be taken into the reckoning, and they extend- 
ed to the distance of forty miles. The same author then 
tells us, that the city is about 1 3 miles in circuit, round the 
walls ; some say fifteen. He then adds, that Rome, before 
the time of Aarelian, was only nine miles in circuit, and had 
undergone vevy little alteration in that respect since the reign 
of Servios Tuliius. In Mr. Martin's statement of the popula- 
tion of Rome, there must be a gross error, unless he include, 
in his accomit of the suburbs, most of the towns and villages 
of the Campagnia. His mistake seems to have originated 
from the census of the Roman citizens, taken m the reign of 
Claudius, who succeeded Cahgula in the empire. This cen- 
sus amounted to about 6,945,000 ; but it is to be observed 
that this was not the number of inhabitants in the city of Rome, 
but that of the free Roman citizens, dispersed throughout 
Ihe v.d3ole empire ; and which, as Mr. Gibbon observes, 
might with a proportionate number of wom.en and children, 
amount to about 20.000,000. Mr. Gibbon, describing the ci- 
ty of Rome, as it existed under the imperial government, says, 
" The circuit of the walls was accurately measured by the 
mathematician Amm-ooius, and found to be twentyone miles, 
and lying almost in a circular form« The architect, Vitru- 
vh??, who flousished in the reign of Augustus, says, that the 
innumerable habitations of the Roman people Vrould have 
spread themselves far beyond the limits of the city ; and 
that the ground being contracted on every side by the 
villas and gardens of the opnient citizens, suggested the com- 
mon expedient of raising the houses to an exceeding great 
heiaht ; so that it was repeatedly enacted, by Augustus and 
Nero, that private edifices should not exceed the height of 
seventv feet froio the ground ; but the successive testimo- 



Let. XVI. ON HISTORY. 1^5 

nies of Pliny, and others, prove the insufficiency of those 
edicts to restrain the inhabitants of Rome from carrying their/^ 
liouses to an enormous height. Many families were lodged 
in one house, or insulag, as at Paris, a different family occupj- 
ing each story. Some modern authors assert, that, in the 
reign of Augustus, Rome was fifty miles in circuit, and con- 
tained 453,000 men able to bear arms ; which, with a pro* 
portionate number of women, children, old men, &c. would 
I make the whole number of inhabitants not less than three mil- 
lions. That accurate writer, Bl. de Messance in his Recherches 
sur la Po]mlcdio7iy assigns to Paris, 23,565 houses, 71,12 4 
families and 576,000 inhabitants ; and Pvlr. Gibbon says, 
that if we calculate the number of the inhabitants of ancient 
Rome, according to the principles of M. de Messance, we 
may estimate theni^bout the number of 12,000,000, a calcu- 
lation not improbable ; a number not excessive for that metio- 
polis of the world, although much exceeding the population 
of the greatest cities of modern Europe. Fiorn ali llicse 
disagreeing accounts, and random conjectures, no calculalion, 
in the least degree approximating to exactness, can be made. 
The total number of houses is, however, accurately stated in 
a description of Rome, composed in the reign of TlieodosiuSj 
between fifty and sixty years after the translation of the seat 
of empire to Constantinople, and consequently at a time when 
the ancient capital must be presumed to have been on the 
decline. In that statement, the number of domus orhouseSg 
of the grandees, was IT'S® ; and the number of insula?, or 
plebeian habitations, was 46,602. In esiimalihg the popu- 
lation of Home, the best ground we have to go upon, is the 
mode of building, which was to carry their houses to an 
enormous height, as already observed ; the extent of the ci- 
ty, and ike number of houses and streets. If the wall of 
Anreiian inclosed the vast circuit of twenty-one miles, the 
city was of a vast extent ; and if its form had been perfe >i.'y 
circular, as it rrearly was, would have contained thirty-seven 
square miles and three quarters, within that circumference, 
a space nearly twice as large as that occupied by London, 
and its suburbs. So great an extent, with houses carried to 
such an height, indicates a vast population ; but the streets 
of Rome were few in number, not exceeding four h^mdred 
and twenty-four ; a circumstance v/hich makes it appear, that 
a considerable quantity of ground was taken up by the back? 



196 LETTERS Let. XVL 

yards and other appurtenances. The number of houses, 
however, of which we have an exact account, as taken in the 
reign of Theodosiiis, seems to shew that there could not be 
much waste ground ; for according to this description, the 
extent of Rome was not twice as much as that of Paris ; and 
yet tliC houses in the former city were more than double the 
number of those in the latter. In an octavo edition of one of 
our popular books of p;eographj, where the population of 
London is estimated at one million, or eleven hundrjed thou- 
sand, which, however, has been found to be an exaggerated 
calcaiation, liiis marginal note is ann^^xed : — " neither of the 
ancient ci'ies of Babylon, nor Nineveh, nor even ancient 
Konie i:seif, had ever a commerce sutHcient to employ and 
supply so vast a nnmber of inhabitants." This, however, is 
reasoning upon very random suppositions. Of Nineveh we 
know little or nothing, except what mayl>e gathered fiom 
the book of the prophet Jonas, where it is described as an 
exceeding great city, of three days journey ; but whether in 
length or in circuit, we are not informed, although we must 
suppose that the latter is meant; and that it contained per- 
sons who could not distinguish between the right-hand and 
the left, which must be understood of young children. If 
Nineveh was three days journey in circuit, we must suppose 
it to have been built on an open and extensive plan, like 
Babylon, or, perhaps, still more open ; and this indeed was 
most probably the case ; and whether the hint given in the 
above mentioned place of its population ought to be under- 
stood in a hteral sense, or regarded as an hyperbolical ex- 
pression, in the oriental style, every one is at liberty to form 
his own opinion. Of Babylon we know as little, in regard 
to its population, or its means of supply and employment for 
its inhabitants, as we do of Nineveh, except that the great 
quantity of open ground within the squares, formed by the 
inti rsections of the streets, furnished a considerable supply 
of the necessaries of life ; but the open plan of that city af- 
fords an unquestionable proof, that its population could bear 
no proportion to its extent, according to our notions of the 
population of large towns ; and that the inhabitants could not 
be so nume'ous, nor perhaps, half so numerous, as those of 
London. But, from the extent of Rome, and the number of 
habitations it contained, which amounted to more than dou- 
ble the number of those in Paris, the number of its inhabi- 



Let. XV. ON HISTORY. l^T 

tants must have consitlerablj exceeded the population of any 
city of (he modern world ; for whatever romantic stories we 
have read in our common books of geography, concerning 
the population of Constantinople, Cairo, and Pekin, it is certaiiv 
that not one of those cities is equal to London in the number 
of inhabitants. By the most authentic documents, on which 
we can found a calculation, it plainly appears, that Constan- 
tinople cannot contain more people than Paris ; and thaf nei^- 
ther of them contains so many as London, including the sub-- 
urbs, and the city of Westminster. Peldn is now, undoubt- 
edly, the largest city in the world. Mr. Anderson, in his 
relatiq;! of Lord Macartney's embassy to China, says, " that 
it is a square of nine miles every way ;" but he adds, " that 
the streets are 140 feet wide, and houses, except those of the 
Mandarins, only one story high ;" from which circumstance 
we may easily conclude, that notwithstanding its immense ex- 
tent, its population cannot equal that of London; and it is a 
strange misapprehension of some, who, while they suppose 
that neither Nineveh, Babylon, nor Rome, could have a trade 
sufficient to employ and supply so many inhabitants as Lon- 
don contains, give to Pekin, the inland situation of which is 
still less favourable to^commerce, a population twice as number- 
ous as that of our metropolis. It would only be a reasonable 
question to ask those writers, how Pekin provides employ- 
ment and supplies for two millions of hihabitants, if ancient 
Rome, the mete*opolis of the civilized world, could not em- 
ploy and supply the half of that number. But the popula- 
tion of great cities is estimated strangely at random, in many 
of our geographical books. Some compute the population of 
Paris, at 800,000, others at 500,000, and others at 600,000, 
whicli last calculation seems to be the nearest approximatiori 
fo truth. The number of inhabitants in Moscow, which, ex- 
cepting Pekin, is perhaps the most extensive city of tlie mod» ■ 
ern world, has been much exaggerated, even to the incredi- 
ble number of a million ; and even those of PetersBurgh have 
frequently been reputed at 400,000 ; but Mr. Cox, a most 
hitelligent traveller and accurate observer, a&signs 130,000 to 
Petersburgh, and 400.000 to Moscow. 

Butancient Rome, as far as we can form an idea, f.oia 
the imperfect descriptions of it yet extant, especially from 
the number of its houses, the best criterion whei>eby to es- 
timate its population, appears to have been built on a verr 

R 2 



198 LETTERS Let. TVt 

different plan from that of Moscow or Pekin ; as also, from 
that of Babjlon of old ; and seems to have been as much 
crowded with inhabitants as either London or Paris ; and if 
we maj be permitted to hazard a conjecture, from existing 
circumstances collectively coasidered, its population cannot 
be supposed to have been much less than Ihat of these two 
cities taken together, and which amounts to about one mil- 
lion and a half. As to the observation in the marginal note 
before alluded to, that Rome had not a commerce sufficient to 
employ and maintain so vast a number, it appears to be found- 
ed on t\ie erroneous supposition, that ancient Rome was a 
commercial city, like London, and subsisted in the same 
manner bj trade ; whereas the case was directly the con- 
trary. London draws a great part of its wealth frosn com- 
merce ; but Ecme acquired the whole of hers from \iolence 
and rapine. Loodon is an emporium of commerce ; Rome 
was, in plain lan-:;:uage, a den of robbers, the residence of the 
plunderers of the world. London, however, as nmch as it 
is enriched by foreign traffic, is also as much enriched, aod its 
nnrnerous inhabitants obtain as much, or even more e'liploy- 
nient from its internal commej-ce, from the circumstance of its 
being the residence of the coiirS and of th(t nobility and gen- 
try ; and in consequence of its being the capital of England, 
would be a large, t ich, and populous city, without the advanta- 
ges of foreign hafiic. Tiie capital of y wealthy and exten- 
sive emv-\ e, w ei e an oDulent and splended nob'lity nx 
their resicttnce, aiisst always have a brisk trade within itself, 
and attract a great iiijmber of inhabitants, to whom it gives 
employment, in providing for the conveniences and luxuries 
of the opulent. It is chiefly this inlernal trade that gives 
employment to the numerous innkeepers, shopkeepers, and 
mechanics, of our metropolis. Paris afibrds a striking illus- 
tration of this argument That great capital is so situated as 
to possess no commercial advantages ; and yef, in splen- 
dor and shew, it surpasses every other city in the world, and 
is inferior to none, except London, in population. This ari- 
ses entirely from its having long been the metropolis of a 
great and flourishing nation, the residence of a brilliant court, 
and a numerous and opulent nobility ; and the general resort 
of the nobility and gentry of other countries. All these ad- 
vantages appertained in an eminent degree to Rom.e. The 
city, during almost seven hundred years of successful war 



Let. XVI. on HISTORY. 199 

and rapine, had accumulated the wealth of all the surround- 
ing nations. No one, who has the least acquaintance with 
historj, can be ignorant of the immense riches, and extrava- 
gant expenditure of some of her prinicipal citizens. The 
luxurious and splendid style in which the grandees of Rome 
lived, and the superb edifices every where erected, would 
necessarily employ a great number of artisans of every kind. 
The countries, of wliich London and Paris are the capitals, 
are of small extent and population, when. compared with the 
Roman empire. London is the metropolis of a country en- 
riched by commerce ; and her merchants vie, in opulence, 
with the nobility of most countries ; but it is very doubtful 
whether the wealth of London, including all her rich traders, 
be equal to that of the opulent citizens of ancient Rome. 
There is no doubt but the persons of landed property in 
Ro ne, were far more numerous, and possessors of far greater 
estates, than those who reside in any modern capital. In re- 
gard to emploj^ment and supplies, the poorer class of citizens 
were not only free from taxes, but drew almost an entire 
maintenance from the tributary donations; and the opulence 
and iuxuTy of the wealthy would give employment and sup- 
port to a ni?merous mixed mass of people froQi the provin- 
ces, who, acquiriiag fortunes, would in time vie with the 
g; andees themselves, as it is frequently seen in great cities. 
From these principles of reasoning, grounded on well known 
circumstances, aod aotiiorized by a mass of authentic histo- 
rical evidence, it plainly appears, that any comparison be- 
tween Rome and London, founded on the respective com- 
merce of those two cities, must be absurd. There is not 
the least resemblance in their Dolilical or social circumstan- 
ces, their economy or mode of supplies. London iflourish- 
es by commerce, Rome flourished by her former rapine ; and, 
like London, Paris, and all other great capitals, could not 
fail of having within herself a very brisk internal trade, of 
which the effects cannot be calculated with any degree of 
accuracy. 

These observations on the population of ancient Rome, 
will, I believe, be not ill grounded ; at least they carry the 
appearance of strong probability. 

With every sentiment of imjfeigned respect, 

I am, Sir, yours, &c. 
J. B. 



200 LKTTSRS Let. XVII. 



LETTER XYIL 



SIR, 



AFTER endeavouring, from the broken hints and scatter- 
ed fragoienls of historians, to delineate the aspect of the Ro- 
man empire, from the commencement of the imperial govern- 
ment, under Augustus, as far as to the end of the briliiant 
and important reign of Constantine, let us now proceed to 
take a general view of the events which took place after the 
death of that Emperor, in order to trace not onlj the political 
history of the empire, but also the revolution of human ideas. 

It is well known, that Constantine, supposing undoubted!/ 
that the Roman empire was sufficiently extensive to furnish 
an ample patrimony for all his descendants, incurred the fatal 
mistake of dividing its vast domain among his three sons, Con- 
stantius, Constans, and Constantine. Within three years after 
their father's death, Constans invaded the dominions of his 
brother Constantine, who being drawn into an ambuscade, and 
slain, left Constans in possession of two-thirds of the Roman 
W03*ld : but soon affer, Magnentius revolting against Constans, 
surprised him in hunting^^, and put him to death; and Magnenllus 
being, in the next place, defeated by Constantius, terminated 
his life by suicide ; and thus, by the disastrous fate of his 
brothers, Constantius became sole Emperor, A. D. 3.53. 
It is, at this time, to little purpose to exarnine the particular 
circumstances which gave rise to those civil wars, or deter- 
mined their issue ; this, however, we can but observe, that by 
those fatal divisions the strength of the empire was exhausted^ 
and Roman valor antl discipline turned against itself, instead 
of being employed against the enemies of the state. 

Constantius dying, A. D. 361, Julian, commonly call- 
ed the Apostate, son of Julius Constantius. and nephew of 
the great Constantine, assumed the imperial purple. The 
ishort reign of this Emperor displays a signal instance of the 
w^onderful dispensations of Providence in favour of the Chris- 
tian religion, which merits the attention and observation of 
posterity. This Emperor, marching agaiust tlie Persians^ 



Let. XVII. ON HISTORY. 201 

was so infatuated by his ideas and expectation of conquest, 
as to destioj the fleet of boats which he had upon the ^l igris, 
and j ashlj' shut himself up in the Persian territories, where 
he suiiered himself to be allured by spies, who feigned them- 
selves to be deserters from the king of Persia, to advance far 
into the Persian territories ; being made vainly to believe 
that the kmg diust not face him in the field, but was flying be- 
fore him. This farce was carried on until the Roman army, 
having advanced very far into an unknown country, was, at 
last, involvea m the midst of sandy deserts, and began to teel 
the eitecfs of famine. At this critical juncture their guides 
suddenly disappeared, and the Persian menarch made his ap- 
peal ance wilh the whole military force of his kingdom. The 
improvident Emperor then discovered his error. The want 
of provisions rendered a retreat necessary ; betwixt that mea- 
sure, and perishing with famine, there was no alternative. 
The retreat was accordingly begun, during which they were 
continually harrassed by the Persians, who carefully avoided 
any close engagement. The heavy armed legions were nei- 
ther accustomed to, nor equipped for, this desultory mode of 
fighting, and could make no impression on the Persian caval- 
ry, which made incessant attacks, and precipitate retreats, 
and were no sooner repulsed than they immediately rallied 
and renewed the engagement. The Roman army, which, at 
its entrance into Persia, was one of the finest the empire had 
ever sent out, now exhibited a shocking spectacle of distress. 
In those disastrous circumstances the Romans at last gained 
the banks of the Tigris, which, for want of their boats which 
Julian had madly destroyed, they could not pass. Military 
history does not record, and imagination itself can hardly con- 
ceive, a more distressful situation than that of the Roman ar- 
my, exhausted with fatigue, and perishing with hunger ; 
a deep and rapid river in front, and the whole armed power 
of Persia in their rear. In those circumstances the Persian 
king made, in the night, a general assault on the Roman camp. 
All was a scene of tumultuous confjision and promiscuous 
slaughter, until at last Roman valor proved successful in re- 
pulsing the enemy ; but, amidst the confusion of that dreadful 
night, the Emperor received a mortal wound, which in a few 
hours terminated his existence, and compelled him to appear 
before the tribunal of that Judge whose worship he had re- 
solved to abolish, and whose name he had designed to oblit- 



202 LETTERS Let. XVII. 

erate from the minds of men. We have been told that Juli- 
an took a handful of his own blood, threw it up towards hea- 
ven, exclaiming, Vicisti GalilxB vicisti ; — " Thou hast con- 
quered, Galil^ean ; Thou hast conquered;" Galilaean being 
the name by which he contemptuously called Christ. This 
story has been universally circulated, and pretty generally 
believed. It hath sometiiing of a romantic cast, but is not, 
on that account, the less probable, as it was suited to the char- 
acter of that Emperor. However, although this story be not 
in itself improbable, when we consider Julianas aversion 
against the name and religion of Jesus, is a thing concerning 
which historians might easily be misinformed, among the va- 
rious reports which would undoubtedly be cnxulated relative 
to an event of such importance as the death of Julian, in a 
situation so critical and interesting to the empire, and espe- 
cially to the Christian party. This consideration ought to 
render us cautious how we admit, as indubitable truths, such 
assertions as have, perhaps, no other bails than a vague re- 
port, or mere imagination. The death of the Emperor Juli- 
-an, is, however, an event which merits particular notice ; and, 
perhaps, contributes not a little to influence the religious state 
of Europe at this day. There is no doubt but he had con- 
ceived the design of extirpating the Christian religion ; and 
if Providence had permitted his reigo to have been long and 
prosperous, like those of Constantine, and some few more of 
the Emperors, it is impossible to calculate how fatal its e^ 
fects might have been to Christianity ; for one very import- 
ant circumstance distinguishes JuHan from all the former 
persecuting Emperors. -^ It has already been observed, that, 
among all the Pagan Emperors, very few, if any, had been 
persecutors from personal inclination. Some of them were 
favourably disposed to the Christians ; and others were indif- 
ferent about the matter, and would never have turned their 
attention to the professors of Christianity, had they not been- 
influenced by the suggestions of prie^sts. and other interested 
persons. Julian, on the contrary, was a persecutor from 
principle. He had been educated in the Christian religion, 
and had not only apostatized from its doctrines, but manifest- 
ed the most rooted a\ ei slon against Christianity, Avhich he 
had already begun to take the most decisive, and apparently 
the most eiTeciual measure to extirpate. From such an ene- 
my the church had reason to expect a more determined ancV 



Let. XVII. ON HISTORY. 203 

persevering hostility than from these Pagan Emperors, who, 
had no personal enfr.itj against Christianity, or its professors. 
The death of a man, in so critical a moment, may, therefore, 
be looked upon as a distinguished link in that mysterious 
chain of causes and eflects which constitutes the plan of Di- 
vine providence. It is impossible to calculate exactly the 
possible etFects of moral causes. It is even difficult to deve- 
lope their actual consequences, through all their various com- 
binations. Had not, however, the circumstances of the modern 
world been influenced by the events which took place in the 
reign of Constantine, and by the disastrous fate of Julian, 
we might, at this day, have bended the knee before the gods 
of Pagan Rome, or prostrated ourselves before the Woden, 
Thor, and other grim idols of the northern nations. 

It ma}^ be remarked, that if Julian had appointed, or the 
army elected another Emperor, of principles equally averse 
to Christianity, his death would not have dispelled the storm 
w^hich was gathering in the Christian horizon; but Julian's 
superstitious opinion, that his untimely fate was a mark of 
the wrath of the gods, would not presume to incur their fur- 
ther displeasure, by presuming to nominate a successor ; and 
Jovian, a Christian ©fficer, was elected Emperor , who, in the 
perishing situation of the army, was obliged to conclude a dis- 
advantageous peace with Persia, and to purchase a safe re- 
treat by the cession of Mesopotamia, the strong city of Nisi- 
bis, &c. We are not informed of any objection being made 
against Jovian's religion by the soldiers, nor have we any 
historical documents whereby to judge, whether the Christians 
or the Pagans composed the majority of the army. It is, 
however, certain, that a \evy great number of Christians 
served under the banners of Julian, the avowed enemy of 
Christianity^ as a numerous mass of Pagans followed the 
standard of Constantine, the subverter of their religion ; and 
as we have already observed it to be a matter of surprise, 
that no revolt of the Pagans ever happened in the time of 
Constantino, so it appears equally remarkable, that the Chris- 
tians never manifested any disposition to oppose the measures 
of Julian. It seems as if the doctrines of non-resistance and 
passive obedience had .been the common creed of both 
Christia^is and Pagans, in that early age. 

The Emperor, Jovian, dying soon after his election, emd 
the conclusion of the peace with Persia, Valentinian, another 



204 LETTERS Let. XVIL 

Christian commander, was decorated with the imperial pur- 
ple, and associated his bi other Valens as his colleague in the 
empire, assigning to him the eastern part, while he himself 
ruled the west. In the reia;n of Valens, a singular event took 
place, which U, by many juaicious historians, esteemed the 
first step in the subversion of the empire. The Huns, a 
Tartar nation, being di iven out of their own country by the 
Siem.pi, afier a number of migrations, came like a torrent upon 
the Goths, on the north side of the Danube. The country 
being subdued, an immense crowd of Goths presented them- 
selves on the banks of that river, requesting an asylum in the 
Roman dominions. This being granted, on condition of de- 
livering up their arms and their children : the children, at 
least those of rank, were accordingly delivered up as hostages ; 
but through the mismanagement, or malpractices, of the Ro- 
man governors of those provinces, they were suffered to re- 
tain their arms. The number of Goths who passed the 
Danube, on this occasion, was computed at about 200,000 
armed men, with their wives and children along with them. 
Another army of Goths then appeared on the banks of the 
river, requesting an asylum : this was refused, but they pass- 
ed without leave, and being ill supplied with provisions, all 
the Goths united, and commenced a war against the empire ; 
and, after various skirmishes, the Emperor Valens, although 
his nephew Gratian was on his march to join him, being un- 
willing to share his glory with another, gave battle to the 
Goths in the plains of Adrianople, and was totally defeated. 
The loss on the side of the Romans was exceeding great, 
and this defeat was considered as the most severe stroke they 
had felt since the battle of Cannse. The Emperor Valens 
was never more seen, and Vt^as supposed to have been con- 
sumed in the flames of a cottage, where he had taken refuge, 
A. D. 378. 

After this dreadful disaster, Theodosius, a native of Spain, 
was made Emperor of the east, and in four years and a half 
terminated the Gothic war, in which he displayed consum- 
mate abilities and prudence. The Goths had lands assigned 
them in the Roman provinces, and submitted to the Roman 
government ; but were governed by their own laws, forming 
an Imperium in Imperio. Theodosius was, in every re- 
spect, a second Constantine. Like him, he rendered the em- 
pire triumphant over all its enemies, extinguished intestine 



Let. XVII. ON HISTORY. 205 

commotions J and estaljlished orthodox CbrisHanify upon a 
solid basis ; and, finally, in ioiifation of his exain|j|ie, divided 
the eiiipire between his two sons, Arcadius and flonoiious ; 
assigning to the former (he eastern, and to the latter the 
western part. This was the last and fatal division of the 
Roman empiie, which, from thai period, is generallj distin- 
guished by writers as two separate and independent states ; 
and this seesiis to have been the leading canse which preci- y 
pitafed its doWnfa|._ The two different monarchies inl'.> which 
the Roman enripire was now divided, gradually became stran- 
gers to each other, and even regarded each other's prosi- 
perity with a jealous eye When the western empire was 
hard pressed on every side by the northern invaders, tlie 
eastern empire seemed quite unmoved by its calamities, and 
made no efibrt tc avert its impending doom. This aliena- 
tion appeared more visibly in every successive reign; and 
after a long train of disasters, of which the melancholy nar- 
ratives have crowded the ensanguined page of history, Rome, 
so long the mistress of the world, fell a prey to Gothic plun- 
der, while Constantinople appeared totally unconcerned at 
the event. Before the imperial city was ransacked by fo- 
reign enemies, the western empire had long shev/n every 
symptom of a <ieclining state, yet the immense fabric fell 
gradually, and, amidst the general dilapidation, it was for a 
considerable time propped by the valor and discipline of the 
army. The Roman legions gave many checks to the bar- 
barians; but no vigor existed in the administration, and the 
imperial court, through the impulse of pusillanimity, shut it- 
self up in Ravenna, a place, which impassable marshes on 
every side rendered inaccessible to an enemy. In that im- 
pregnable situation .the shadow of imperial greatness was, 
during some time, preserved ; but the whole empire exhibit- 
ed a deplorable scene of anarchy and disaster, one province 
after another falling a prey to the northern invaders, who 
poured by innumerable swarms into the empire, and whosei 
numbers defeat and slaughter never seemed to diminish. 

While the pageantry of state w^as, in some degree, kept up 
at Ravenna, and the imperial court, m lljat inaccessible situa- 
tion, smrounded by vast morasses, consulted its own security, 
the rest of Italy was ravaged by the enemies of the empire. 
Alaric, the Gothic chief, having made peace w'ith the eastern 
empire, on condition of being constituted mas tei -general of 

S 



206 LETTERS Let. XVIL 

the eastern Illyrium, was immediately proclaimed ting of the 
Visigoths, A. D. 398, and two years after invaded Italy; 
but was defeated at Polientia by Stilicho, the Roman gene- 
ral. Ita]/ was next invaded by Rhadagasins, another nor- 
thern c= k-f, who laid siege to Florence, and threatened Rome 
iir-cir. This invader was also defeated and slain by Stilicho, 
and his whole army Exterminated, A. D. 406. Thus the 
remains of Roman discipline, while any energy was left in the 
govei nment to call it into action, proved an overniatch in the 
field for the numerous hosts of the barbarians. But it seem- 
ed that the imperial court rushed upon its own destruction. 
Sliiicho was supplanted at the court of Honorius, and 
Ireacherousiy slain, A. D. 408. Thus fell that great gene- 
id, whose military achievements rivalled those of the greatest 
horoes, Rome, in her most brilHant ages of martial glory, had 
ev.^r produced, and who had long been the chief prop of the 
totering empire, and the guardian angel of the imperial city. 
Alevlc immediately renewed the war, and laid seige to Rome. 
For that tiQie, however, he accepted a ransom, and retired, 
receiving 5000 pounds weight of gold, 30,000 pounds weight 
of silver, 4000 robes of silk, (which, in that age, was of an im- 
mense ^ alue) and 3000 pounds weight of pepper, which was 
at that time valued at 1 5 dejiariij or ten shillings sterling per 
pound. Alaric, however, under what pretext is not known, 
returned the next 3^ear to the siege, but again retired. He 
afterwards besieged Rome a third time, and at last took and 
plundered the city, carrying away the immense wealth which 
had been accumulated within its walls by so long a series of 
successful war. Thus imperial Rome, which had employed 
so many centuries in plundering the nations, and had so long 
reigned the domineering mistress of the v/orld, was taken, and 
plundered by the Goths, about eleven hundred and fifty -two 
years after its foirndation. Alaric soon after died, in the 
visor of his age, and his brother, Adolphus, being elected 
]ui)g of the Goths, conchided a peace with the empire ; and 
h ving evacuated Italy, and married Placidia, sister of the 
El :peror Honorius, marched into Gaul, where he founded the 
Gothic kinadom of Thoulouse, which comprised the pro- 
vinces situated between the Loire and the Garronne, and 
WuS i;fterwards annexeit to the kingdom of France, by Clovis, 
the ilrst Chiistian king of that country. 



Let. XVII. ON HISTORY. 207 

A gleam of tranquillity now seemed to shine on the declin- 
ing empire ; but its overthrow was written in the volume of 
Divine Providence. Its great Gothic enemy was now con- 
verted into a friend and ally, but hosts of enemies still pour- 
ed in. The period of time included, between A. D. 345, 
and x4. D. 451, was marked by the sanguinary reign of x\t- 
tila, king of the Huns. This butcher of the human race eve- 
ry where spread horror and desolation. He attacked the 
eastern empire, and ravaged its provinces, to the very gates 
of Constantinople, A. D. 441. After making peace with 
that empire, he invaded Gaul, and laid siege to Orleans. The 
plains of Chalons, in Champagne, are rendered famous by 
the most dreadful and destructive conflict recorded in history, 
where the king of Huns received a signal defeat by a confed- 
erate Roman and Gothic army, commanded by the ger.ei a! 
iEtius, and Theodoric, king of the Gothic kingdom of Thou- 
louse. Histoi'ians, although they differ in their statements 
of particulars, all agree in representing this battle as the most 
horrible scene of butchery ever displayed on the miiita.y 
theatre of the world. The lowest calculation makes the loss 
on the side of the Huns, amount to 130,000 ; but most his- 
torians state it at a much greater aumber. The restless At- 
tila, whose title of the scourge of the Almighty, was perfect- 
ly appropriate to his character, notwithstanding this bloody 
defeat, and loss, soon after invaded Italy, and extended his 
ravages to the very gates of Rome. He died within about 
a year afterwards, in the full strength and vigour of his age, 
by the breaking of a blood vessel, A. D. 458, Thus the 
world was delivered from one of the most sanguinRry de- 
stroyers of mankind that ever disgraced the page of history. 
It is now impossible to determine the limits of Attiia's kiiig- 
dom ; but it is supposed that he had united the greatest part 
of Germany and Poland, as well as Hungary and the ancient 
Dacia, under his dominions. It appears, however, that his 
empire had fallen asunder after his death, as none of his suc- 
cessors have made any figure in history. 

In these disastrous times, th« crimes, as well as the mis- 
fortunes of the Romans, seemed to exceed ali bounds. The 
Emperor, Valentinian the Third, stabbed with his own hand 
the Patrician ^tius, the last support of the empire, to whom 
it owed the prolongation of its existence. Valentinian was 
himself assasinated at a review, about a year after he had 



208 LP;:TTERS- Let. XVII. 

coniir.ilted this rash crime. He was the last of the race of 
the great Theodociiis. /E'ius had broken the formidable 
power of iktisia, in the rnestiorable conflict on the plains of 
Chalons ; but the enemies of Rome were not extirpated by 
that defeat, nor bj the subsequent death of that destroyer. 
Generic, kin:;^ of the Yandals, took and pkindered Rome, A. 
D. 455. From the death of Yaleniiuian the Third, A. D. 
455, to A. I). 4T6, tlie empire still dragged on a hngering 
existence, under nine successive Emperors, until Odoacer, 
chief of the Heruli, sat do¥/o on the throne of the Cassars, 
and put a final period to the existence of the western empire. 
If we peruse with attention, the histories of those calami- 
loas times, and examine the compi'lcated tissue of circum- 
stances which occasioned the snbversion of the most extra- 
ordinary and wonderful political structure the world has ever 
seen, we shall find, that a variety of causes concurred to pro- 
duce this great eiiect. The luxury of the Eomans, and the 
despotism of the imperial government, might break the mar- 
tial spirit of the people, and render them less fit for military 
achievements. This is more than a bare supposition. It 
evidently appears to have actually been the case. During 
the latter ages of the emphe, reckoning from the reign of 
Commodus, the strength of the empire had been often ex- 
hausted, and much of its best blood spilt, in fruitless contests 
among its rulers. These causes, undoubtedly, contributed 
to effect the downfal of the empire ; and a vai iety of other 
causes, too numerous to examine in detail, and some of them, 
perhaps, at this tiine, totally unknown, or at least diiScult to 
investigate, undoubtedly entered into the combination. The^ 
division of the empire into two separate states, however, ap- 
pears to have been the principal internal cause of its dissolu- 
tion. Perhaps, however, no system of politics, no military 
discipline or courage, could have prevented the destruction 
of the Colossal fabric. An external cause existed, which 
would, perhaps, in process of time, have surmounted every 
obstacle, and overcome all opposition. The nations of the 
north had, ever since the time of JMarius, been formidable 
enemies to Rome. At that period the republic had, with 
the Cimbri, one of the most dangerous w^ars in which it was 
ever engaged, and which was not terminated without an in- 
credible slaughter of the enemy. During the prosperous 
times of the empire, the Roman name was a restraint on their 



Let. XVII. ON HISTORYo 209? 

daring and enterprizing spirits ; but on every favourable op- 
portunity they recommenced their predatory inroads into the 
frontier provinces ; and although in every war they were re- 
pulsed with great loss of men, they incessantly renewed their 
incursions. Those nations, leading a simple and hardy life, 
ignorant of the arts of civilization, which contribute to the sup- 
port of numerous communities ; little acquainted with agricul- 
ture, and yet less with commerce and manufactures, found 
themselves unfavourably situated for subsistence ; and their 
increasing numbers straitened in the frozen regions of the 
north ; and, actuated by a roving inclination, and a restless 
spirit of enterprize, they were always ready to emigrate to- 
wards the fertile regions and genial climates of the more 
southern parts of the globe. But the dominions of Rome, 
extending from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, every where 
presented an insurmountable barrier to their progress, and 
confined them to the countries on the north of the Rhine, 
the Danube, and the Euxine sea. By the physical laws of 
the increase of the human species, those nations must have 
multiplied very fast ; and in their uncivilized state, must, in 
process of time, have been necessitated to open some passage 
for the discharge of their superfluous numbers. This has 
always been the case in all uncivilized nations ; and from the 
earliest periods of antiquity, history furnishes successive in- 
stances of the migratioits of the northern nations towards the 
temperate climates of the south. In every country the soil 
can provide subsistence for only a limited number of inhabit- 
ants, and this number may be reckoned greater or less, in pro- 
portion to its natural fertility in conjunction w^ith the tempe° 
rature of the climate, and the perfection of agriculture. 
Whenever the population is increased beyond this fixed 
point, a part of the inhabitants must emigrate, unless some 
other method of supporting the superabundant population can 
be discovered ; and this can only be done by manufactures 
and commerce. The manufacturing system is a great source 
and support of population, as the different articles are ex- 
ported to such countries as want them, and the overplus pro- 
duce of those countries imported for the support of the 
manufacturer. 

In civilized countries we find manufactures are an inex- 
haustible source of wealth, by which they are enabled to 
draw fi'oni other coujntries that subsistence which their own 

S 2 



210 LETTERS Let. XVIt 

does not supply. We see this exemplified in Holland, and 
many other parts ; and, indeed, in all commercial and manu- 
facturing countries, and large towns, where a great number of 
people are crowded within a narrow space, where nothing for 
sustenance is produced, and yet every thing is found plen- 
tiful. The op.^^n country, being well cultivated by indus- 
trious husbandmen, produces nioie than is sufficient for the 
subsistence of the cultivators; and the inhabitants of popu- 
lous towns, collecting by traffic, or fabricating by their inger 
unity and industry, such things as the peasant has need of, 
draw their subsistence from the overplus produce of the open 
country, exhibiting a picture in miniature of the traffic car-, 
ried on between commercial countries, by which the wants 
of one are supplied out of the superfluities of another. But 
uncivilized nations have not these resources, and consequently, 
when their population increases beyond a certain point, they 
must have recourse to emigration. From these considera- 
tions it appears, that the northern nations must, sooner or 
later, have broken in upon and overturned the Roman em- 
pire; which, by the immense extent of its frontier, every 
where presented an obstacle to their progress. This must 
have happened, unless those nations had adopted the arts of 
ci\iii>.ed society; or else their superfluous numbers must 
Imve been successively cut off in wars with the Romans. 
The physical and moral circumstances of the case admitted 
jio other alternative. The vast countries extending norih- 
waixi, liom the Rhine, the Dannl>e, and the Euxine, compre- 
hending Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Denmark and 
Norway, foroied an im-iiense nursery for the human species. 
The more northern nations moving southward, and over- 
whelming the more southern tribes, resembled a vast deluge, 
w^ave compeliiog wave in continual succession, until the great 
mass of barbarians was accumulated upon the Roman frontier, 
^as we have seen in the case of the Goths and the Huns, in 
the reign of the Emperor Valens. Duiing the latter ages of 
the empire, those invasions had followed one another in almost 
continual succession. We have seen, that in the reign of 
Gailienus, the empire seemed to be verging towards its disso- 
lution. It was, at that time, preserved from destruction by 
the consummate abilities, and vigorous efforts, of tho^e war- 
like Emperors, Claudius, Probus, and Aurelian; and its 
greatness maintained, with difficult}', by Dioclesiauj Maximin, 



Let. XVIL ON HISTORY. 211 

Galeriiis, and others. Constantine had restored it to the 
highest pitch of its former power and grandeur, and his great 
military fame, with the real or apparent energy of his govern- 
ment, restrained the attempts of all the enemies of Rome. 
But in the joint reign of Valentinian and Yalens, the Goths, 
and other nations of the north, renewed their invasions ; and, 
during a space of almost a whole century, scarcely ever ceased 
from attacking the empire in every point, the whole length of 
the northern frontier, from the mouth of the Rhine to that of 
the Danube. The eastern empire firmly maintaining itself 
against the invaders, they almost all turned their arms against 
the west, until the Roman power sunk under their reiterated 
attacks, and the imperial city itself fell a pi ey to the invaclers. 
To have maintaiued the Roman empiie against such swarms 
of enemies, it ought to have remained undivided, and the Em- 
peror should always have been a Claudius, or a Probus, an 
Aurelian, or a Constantine. 

We have observed the wealth, the luxury, and splendor, 
and endeavouieu to estimate the extent and population of 
Rome, while in the zenith of her greatness. Of her state, in 
those unprosperous times of her declining power, it is some- 
what ditlicult to form a conjectine ; whether the imperial city 
had much declined in opulence and luxury, between the 
reign of Tiieodosius the Great, and its capture by Alaric, is 
not easy to determine. It is, however, natural to suppose, 
that this must have been the case, and that the decline of the 
metiopolis must have accompanied the general dechne of the 
empire. By the loss of its provinces, one after another, and 
consequent fy its tributes, not only the empire w^ould suffer a 
great defalcation of revenue, but the Roman citizens, of whom 
the poorer sort had been maintained by the tributary dona- 
tions, must have felt a great deficiency in their supplies. 
Many of the grandees of Rome would lose their estates in the 
provinces occupied by the enemy ; but yet we do not find 
that the luxury of that city was much diminished, at least 
during a considerable time. In a city where the principal 
wealth of the world had been concentrated, a great derange- 
ment might take place in public affairs, and likewise a great 
diminution of private opulence, before a luxurious people 
would display any visible symptoms of poverty. Besides 
it is no improbable conjecture, that many of the opulent indi- 
viduals in the provinces, exposed to the inroads of the ene- 



212 LETTERS Let. XV IL 

my, would remove their property, and take refuge in the 
capital ; which, besides the gratification of every desire, held 
out also a prospect of security ; and on that account a consi- 
derable part of the remaining wealth of the empire would be 
concentrated in the imperial city, which, for that reason, 
would not, perhaps, exhibit symptoms of decline so early as 
the provinces. It may, however, without any hazard of 
forming an erroneous conjecture, be supposed, that Rome 
must have declined ever after Constantinople was made the 
seat of government, although it contained 48,502 houses in 
the reign of Theodosius, sixty years after the removal of the 
imperial residence. It is reasonable to suppose, that a num- 
ber of the opulent and ambitious citizens of Rome would, on 
that occasion, leave the old metropolis, and remove to Con- 
stantinople, especially as Constantine held out great induce- 
ments, by the grant of estates, and other privileges, to such 
as fixed their residence in his new capital. If we consider 
also, that Ravenna, after the imperial court of the western 
empire had been removed thither, grew a flourishing place, 
by the afflux of the great and opulent Romans ; and that its 
impassable barrier of morasses held out a greater prospect of 
security than the metropolis itself; one cannot hesitate to 
conclude, that Rome must have exceedingly declined from 
her former wealth and splendor, before it finally fell a prey 
to Gothic plunder. 

In regard to the general manners of the Romans, we can 
only observe, that they had exceedingly degenerated under 
the imperial government. We find still more evident marks 
of that degeneracy during the period which followed the 
reign of Constantine. Scarcely any instances of Roman pa- 
triotism are to be found in the succeeding reigns, and the 
public spirit seems to have been extinguished. Want of 
energy in the government, and luxury, effeminacy, and a 
general depravity of manners among the people in that age, 
characterized the Roman empire. 

Having dehneated a view of the Roman empire, in its de- 
clining state, and traced the events which preceded, as well 
as the causes which produced its downfal, it will not be amiss 
to defer, to another opportunity, an investigation of the state 
of religion during the above-mentioned period. I shall, there^ 
fore, conclude, at present, with subscribing myself, 

Sir, yours, &c« 

J« Bo 



Let. XVIIL ON HISTORY. 213 

LETTER XVm. 



SIR, 



THE religions history of the Roman empire, after the 
death of Constantine, merits attention. The state of religion, 
true or false, is an important subject in the history of the hu- 
man mind. Every thing must, therefore, be peculiarly in- 
teresting that relates to a system, which, to this day, influ- 
ences the pohtical and moral world, gives a particular direc- 
tion to our ideas, and forms the basis of our hopes. No 
sooner was Constantine deposited in the tomb, than his fa- 
vourite council of Nice began to lose its authority and in- 
fluence, and Arianism became triumphant. The orthodox 
party was discountenanced, and almost all the great ecclesi- 
astical dignities, throughout the eastern empire, were confer- 
red on the Arians. We have already observed the danger- 
ous situation of Christianity in the reign of Julian, and its 
providential deliverance from persecution, by the fall of that 
Emperor in the Persian war. From that period no Pagan 
was ever decorated with the imperial purple ; but Valens, the 
eastern Eiiiperor, adhered strongly to Arianism, and perse- 
cuted the orthodox. After the disastrous fate of Valens, at 
the battle of Adiianople, in the Gothic war, the great Theo- 
dosifis was elected Enperor of ihe east. He firmly adhered 
to t'hQ orthodox faith of the trinity, and deprived the Arians 
of their ecclesiastical preferments, beside other rigorous pro- 
ceediijgs against them ; and if he did not extirpate, at least he 
entirely subdued that heresy, whiclf never more lifted up its 
head in the Roman empire. This Emperor becoming sole 
m.aster of the Roman world, abolished idol worship in every 
part of the empire ; and, in his reign, the Roman senate em- 
braced Christianity, A. D. 388. 

During a period of forty years, which had elapsed from 
the death of Constantine to the triumph of orthodoxy under 
Theodosius, Constantinople had been the seat of Arianism ; 
and the faith of the emperors, the prelates, and the people of 
that metroplis, was rejected in the theological schools of 
Rome and Alexandria. The celebsated Athanasius, bishop 
of Alexandria, from whom the Athanasian creed takes its 
Baiiie, was the strenuous assertor of the Catholic doctrine of 



214 LETTERS Let. XVIII. 

the trinity, and suffered many persecutions on that account. 
Religious controversy was the grand object of attention, 
and the prevailing taste among the lazy multitude of Con- 
stantinople ; and not only the mechanics, but even the very 
slaves, were all profound theologians, and pretended to inves- 
tigate the mystery of the trinity, and the incomprehensible 
nature of the Supreme and Eternal Being. The history of 
the church, during this period, exhibits a disgusting scene 
of faction, pesecution, and anarchy ; bishop condemning 
bishop, and synod condemning synod, with all the virulence 
of pride and fanaticism. 

The elevation of Gregory Nazianzen to the archiepiscopal 
see of Constantinople, A. D. 380, marked the triumph of 
the orthodox party. The Emperor Theodosius, himself 
conducted Gregory through the streets, and placed him on 
the archiepiscopal throne, and the Arians were expelled from 
the churches by military force. As soon as the archbishop 
began to preach the doctrine of the trinity, and the divinity 
of Christ, a motley band of monks and vagabonds assaulted 
the church and were not, without difficulty, compelled to re- 
tire. Theodosius, in order to cut off all pretext for dispute, or 
doubt concerning those questions of the nature of the Divine 
Persons of the trinity, assembled at Constantinople a council 
of one hundred and fifty bishops, in which the theological 
system of the council of Nice was illustrated and explained ; 
and the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, concerning which some 
doubts had arisen, was established as an essential article in 
the creed of the Christian church. This council of Constan- 
tinople ranks as the second general council, and completely 
established and explained the orthodox faith of the trinity. 
In the reign of Theodosius, and that of Arcadius, his son, 
several great characters flourished in the Christian church, 
particularly Gregory Nazianzen, and Julian Chrysostome, 
both of them successively archbishops of Constantinople. 
The corruption of language is visible in most of the Latin fa- 
thers of that age ; but the composition of Gregory Nazianzen 
and Chrysostome are deemed equal to the most elegant mod- 
els of attic eloquence ; Chrysostome especially has always 
been esteemed the most elegant writer, as he certainly was 
the most eloquent preacher, of all the primitive fathers. He 
was originally a priest of Antioch, and after he was made 
af chbishop of Constantinople he w as persecuted and driven 



Let. XVIII. ON HISTORY. 21^ 

into exile by the Empress Endoxia, A. D. 404 ; not without 
an insurrection of the people in his favor, which he, notwith- 
standing, disapproved, and '.ith difficulty dispersed. This 
great man died in exile, A. D. 407, and his relics \', ere, with 
great solemnity, translated to Constantinople by the Emperor 
Theodosins the Second, A. 13. 438. 

After the reign of Theodosins the Great had effected the de- 
pression of Aiianism, the ortho«iox faith of the trinity contin- 
ued to be the creed of the whole Roman empire. The 
Goths, and several o^her nations bordering on the Roman em- 
pire, had already been wholly, or m part, converted to the 
Christian faith ; but as they i'ad received their religion prin- 
cipally from ihe Arians, who bad been expelled by the ortho- 
dox parly, in the reign of Constantino, or by the missionaries 
of Constantinople, during the reii^n of the Arian Emperors, 
his successors, the religion they had embraced was Arianism. 
In consequence of the persecution of the Arians, under The« 
odosius, and the expulsion of the bishops, and other clergy, 
who refused to subscribe the artictes of faith dictated by the 
councils of Nice and Constantinople, a sreat number of those 
churchmen took refuge amon gthe Gothic nations, where their 
doctrines were looked upon as the true creed of the Christian 
church. Thei?e expelled ecclesiastics were well received 
among the barbarous nations, revered as sufferers in the 
cause of religion, and met with extraordinary success in 
the propagation of their doctrines ; so that Arian Christianity 
became the religion of all the northern nations, who were con- 
verted before the subversion of the Roman empire. Thus 
omitting the different sects, which, from time to time, made 
their appearance in the church, and have been stigmatized 
with the name of heresies, it may suffice to remark, that the 
Christian world was divided into two great parties, the ortho- 
dox and the Arians ; the one asserting the divinity of Christ, 
with the co-equality and co-essentiality of the Divine Per- 
sons of the trinity : and the other teaching the subordination 
of the Son, and the essential superiority of the Father. The 
former was the creed of the v/estern, and the latter that of the 
eastern empire, from the reign of Constantine to that of The- 
odosius ; and after that period the Catholic doctrine of the 
trinity was the faith of the whole Roman world, and Arian- 
ism the religion of all the other nations which had embraced 
Christianity ; until after the subversion of the empire, when 



3816 LETTERS Let. XVTIL 

they bescan, one after another, to enibrace the Roman reli- 
gion, and adopt the doctrine of the trinity, in conformity to 
the decrees of the councils of Nice and Constantinople. 

In the ages of which we are now speaking, an order of men 
arose, who have male a conspicuous figure on the political, 
as well as religions theatre of the world, and whose notions of 
serving the t>eity form a distinguished and striking feature in 
the history of the human mind. In that tremendous period 
of persecution, vvhich commenced in the joint reign of Diocle- 
sian and >laximin, a new mode of professing the Christian re- 
ligion, and of practising its precepts, began to take place in 
the church. Anthony and Paul, two Egyptian hermits, had 
so ne tiine before sequestered themselves from the world, and 
devoted their lives to contemplation and prayer in the des- 
erts of Thebais. Several otheis, either desirous of avoiding 
the horrors of persecution, or of shunning the snaresof a sin- 
ful world, or, perhaps, th'-ough a natural inclination for a con- 
templative life, retired to the deserts, separating themselves 
from the society of men, in order to enjoy an uninterrupted 
communication with the Deity. Anthony collected a num- 
ber of those, and united them in regular societies, about 
A. D. 305. A great number of persons, of a pious and contem- 
plative turn of mind, embraced this way of life, and some of 
them adopted exceedingly strict and rigorous rules, believing 
a life of voluntary mortification to be an acceptable homage 
to the Supreme Being. To trace the origin, or examine the 
rules and institutions of the various religious orders, which 
were, at different periods, established in the church, would 
far exceed the limits appropriated to a general view of the his- 
tory of mankind. It suffices to observe, that in the reign of Con- 
stantine, and his successors, the ascetic liie grew into a pre- 
vailing mode, and monasteries were established by Hilarion 
in Palestine, about A. D. 328; at Rome, A. D. 341 ; by 
Basil, in Pontus, \. D. 360 ; by Martin, in Gaul, A. D. 
3r0 ; and, after a short time, in all parts of the Christian world. 
These religious, by their real or apparent sanctity, soon grew 
into great repute. They were drawn from their solitudes, 
and introduced into large cities and towns, and had superb 
monasteries founded for their abode, with magnificent church- 
es erected for the celebration of divine service. In process 
of time, piety, or superstition, endowed those foundations, 
with great revenues and possessions. Thus those pious de- 



LuT. XVm. ON HISTORY. 217 

votees, who had renounced the world, and made a vow of pov- 
erty, became masters of vast possessions ; and although indi- 
vidually poor, possessing all things in common, they formed 
wealthy communities. 

In speaking of a class of religious persons, which make a 
distinguished figure in history, it may not, perhaps, be deem- 
ed unpardonable to outrun the order of time, and to antici- 
pate gome remarks, which, although they might be postponed 
fo another period, yet, for the sake of uniformity in the sub- 
ject, can be no where better placed than here. It is not diffi- 
cult to perceive, that how great soever might be the venera- 
tion in which the monastic life was held some centuries ago, 
it is not much adapted to the taste of modern times. Those 
nations which have embraced the reformed religion, have en- 
tirely rejected all monkish institutions. In the Roman Ca- 
tholic countries they are much lesr respected than formerly. 
In most of those countries their number is considerably di- 
minished. In France they are totally abolished. And, if 
we may hazard a conjecture, from existing appearances, there 
will scarcely be any monastery found remaining in any coun- 
try of the Roman Catholic communion, at the end of the pre- 
sent century : nor is there much room to doubt of their abo- 
lition, in process of time, among those of the Greek church, 
which, in that particular, will probably follow the example of 
that of Rome. In regard to the merits of these institutions, 
many reasons are alleged against their propriety, some found- 
ed on good grounds, and others erroneous principles and mis- 
representations. A candid inquirer will, however, examine 
and judge impartially, without passion or prejudice, and en- 
deavour to view things, not through the medium of party 
spirit, but in their true light and native colours. 

In order to investigate the propiiety of monastic institutions^, 
we must consider them both in a religious and a political point 
of view, as they regard the worship of the Almighty, and as 
they are connected with the interests of society. In regard 
to the religious worship of the Supreme Being, monastic in- 
stitutions seem to be wholly a matter of indifference. That 
infinite Being, who pervades the universe, and fills immensity 
with his presence, may be worshipped in all places, and in 
every situation, within the walls of a monastery, or amidst 
the crowd of a city, in the tumult of a camp, or amidst the 
splendor of a court. Neither the retirement of the cloisterj 

T 



2 1 8 LETTERS Let. X VIIL 

nor the bustle of the crowd, can facilitate or impede his ac- 
t^eptation of the sincere homage of his creatures. If, there- 
fore, a company of persons can agree to associate themselves 
together, in order to employ their tiiae in contemplation and 
prayer, under such rules and regulations as they think appro- 
priate to such a situation, and conducive to their mutual con- 
Teniemce, such a measure cannot, on any principle of religion, 
be condemnahle, any more than literary or other societies ; 
tut they are not, in any respect, essential to religion, and 
perhaps, very little conducive to its general interest. 

Monastic institutions, when impaitiaiiy considered, without 
any bias of party prejudice, appearing a matter of total indif- 
ference in regard to religion, it remains to examine how far 
they may appear, in a poiidcal view, conducive to the bene- 
fit of society, or detrimental to its intei ests, which must, in a 
great measure, depend on the difierent ciicumstances of dif- 
ferent ages and countries. 

Religious houses iiave often been represented as the asy- 
lums of indolence, and tlje iiionks as persons leading a life 
useless to society. This argument is plausible in appear- 
ance, but fallacious in fact, because founded on a representa- 
tion, whicli, being undeisiood as universal, is erroneous. 
Admitting, however, the repiesentation to be true, as it cer- 
taioly is, in pait, we must likewise observe, that religious 
hoi.ses aie not the only asyluins of laziness in a state. How 
Eiany such asylums are there not forrned in private families? 
The crowds of tiomestics composing the retinues of the great 
and cpidei)!, m e\eiy cormiry, are of little service to the 
public, except by contribiiiing to the general consumption of 
the produce of the conntiy, and thereby helping to give ac- 
tivity to industiy and comiiierce ; and the monks contribute, 
20 ths same n}p:Bner, to stimulate the activity of society. In 
every country, and under every political system, there are 
great numbers of individuals who do not employ themselves 
in miy iisefoi labour. Every man is not obliged to labour. 
Those \s ho have property and possessions sufficient to sup- 
port them, and even to enable ihem to live in an elegant man- 
ner, will seldom employ themselves in cultivating the lands, 
or ccnfuie themselves to the manufacturing loom, for the sake 
of making their labours beneficial to the public. From this 
prinelple of reasoning, which uniform experience shews to be 
just, it is evident, that if the lands annexed to the monasteries 



Let. XVIIL ON HISTORY. 219 

did not maintain lazy monks, ihey would maintain lazj lay- 
men. But the monastic possessions cannot, any more tlian 
the estates of lay proprietors, be cultivaled without labour ; 
and consequently they must, like all other lands, support in- 
dustrious husbandmen, as well as lazy monk». Mankind are 
loo prone to be carried away by first tlipughts, without slop- 
ping to make serious reflections. If we were certain that 
every person in those religious houses, would, if he vras 
abroad in the world, employ hiaiself in something beneficial 
to Ihe public, it would be well if no such places existed ; but 
this is very far from being certain. In every country there 
are numbers of persons, whose time and talents are still less 
usefully employed than those of the monks. It is supposed, 
that, befoie the revolutioii, the number of religious, of both 
sexes, in the convents of France, was, not less than two hun- 
dred thousand. All tliese were unemployed in any thing 
useful to the state ; but, at the same time, there were, per- 
haps, twice as many persons in that country as useless to so- 
ciety as they, and much less ioolFensive. The number of 
religious houses, in France, was certainly very great ; but if 
many more Frenchmen had been employed, some years ago, 
in contemplation ahtl prayer, it would, perhaps, have been no 
worse, either for themselves, or for Europe. In England 
itself there are, undoubtedly, many thousands of persons who 
would be better employed in a convent, than they employ 
themselves. 

The general representation of ihe monks, as an indolent 
and useless class of people, is a ful.'^e delineation of character. 
That many of them are persons of that description is not to 
be doubted ; but others of them aie to be ranked in a very 
diiferent class. The monks not only were the preservei's of 
learning, amidst the barbarism of the Gothic ages ; but many 
of them have been great promoters of modern science, and 
actively instrumental in ihe revival of learning, and in dispel- 
ling the gloom of barbaric ignorance, which, during so many 
centuries, enveloped the powers of the liuman intellect. Had 
not the monks collected and preserved what remained of the 
universal wreck of literature, all ancient learning would have 
been irretrievably lost, and the history of ancient times for- 
gotten. We should have wanted the compositions of ihe 
poets and oiators of Greece and Rome, those noble specimens 
qf genius and eloquence, which we so much admire, had they 



22© LETTERS Let. XVIIL 

not been preserved and transmitted to us by the monks ; who, 
on this account, are (o be regarded as benefactors to mankind, 
and considered as an order of men possessing a claim to the 
gratitude of posterity. 

The disorders prevalent in many religious houses have 
been exhibited by some writers in the darkest colours : yet 
we have incontestible historical authority to prove, that some 
cf the monks were pious, as well as learned; and, in both 
these respects, ornaments to the age in which ihey lived, and 
to human nature. That many of them have been otherwise 
is ecjually unquestionable. This is the case in all communi- 
ties of men, A military corps is not to be condemned, be- 
cause there may happen to be some cowards in it ; nor the 
morals of a whole nation impeached, because some malefac- 
tors die by the hand of the executioner. That all the monkiS 
were pious, or that all the nuns were chaste, reason forbids us 
to believe ; but it would be equally unreasonable and un- 
eharitable, to suppose that they were all impious and unchaste. 
Prejudice ought not so far to influence our judgment, as to 
induce us to implicate a whole comiiuuiity in the criminality 
of some of its members ; and sound reasoning ought not to be 
led astray by the false colouring of misrepresentation. We 
ought, io all caseSj to judge itii partially, and examine both 
sides of the question, before we give unqualified approbation, 
or proceed to an indiscriminate censure of our fellow- mortals, 
of what sect, parly, or denomination soever they may hap- 
pen to be. Upon the whole, it appears that monastic insti- 
tutions, not being founded upon any divine precept, constitute 
no part of religion, and consequently can only be regarded 
merely as huoian iostitufions ; and that, like other political 
and civil establishments, their propriety and merit ought to 
be estimated according to their adaptation to human circum- 
stances, in different ages and countries. Viewing them in 
this light, they might be well adapted to the circumstances of 
the times in which they flourished most ; but they certainly 
are not so to the circumstances of modern times. It seems, 
indeed, that during the Gothic, and those called the middle 
ages, when the whole Christian world, or at least that part of 
it which constituted the western, or Latin church, was in- 
volved in barbarism and unlettered ignorance, and agitated 
with perpetual commotions ; when the incessant alarms of 
war, and the general military state of Europe deprived iU in- 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 221 

habitants of the leisure, as well as the inclination to cultivate 
the sciences, and addict themselves to those studies Avhich 
enlighten and embellish the human mind. When such were 
the circumstances of the Christian world, it seems to have 
been highly proper, that an order of men, separated from the 
bustle of the world, and secured by the public veneration 
from the apprehension of violence, were left at leisure to at- 
tend to the improvement of the human intellect, to preserve 
the remains of ancient learning, and to instruct the ignorant 
multitude. The secular clergy were too much embroiled in 
the commotions of those turbulent and unsettled times, to turn 
their attention to literature and the sciences ; and hardly any 
thing could have been better calculated for that purpose, in 
such times, than monastic institutions ; but as such times no 
longer exist, those establishments are now of no utility, and 
very probably will soon be universally abolished. 

With this general view of the rehgious aspect of the Chris- 
tian world, as it exhibited itself during the period which 
elapspd between the death of Constantine and the subversion 
of the western empire, I shall conclude, by assuring you, 
that with unfeigned respect, 

I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

J. B. 



LETTER XIX. 



SIR, 



IN compliance with your desire I again present to you a 
train of observations and refiecjions which will give you but 
little pleasure ; for not many reflections of an agreeable kind 
can arise from the period which now offers itself to our con- 
templation. After the subversion of the Roman empire a 
gloomy period succeeds, which seems to form a vast chasm 
in the history of the human mind. From that memorable 
epoch to the reign of Charlemagne, the history of Europe, dur- 
ring a period of more than three centuries, displays a contin- 
ued scene of bloodshed and anarchy. The pages of histor y 
recount nothing else, during this dark and calamitous period, 
but the incessant and bloody revolutions which took place 

T2 



222 LETTERS Let. XIX, 

in the kingdoms and states which the northern nations had 
formed out oi the ruins of th6 Ronjan empire; and the writerSy 
who treat of those times, crowd their narratives with ill-au- 
theiiticated details of battles, sieges, treasons, and assassina- 
tions, which are not worth the attention of posterity, any fur- 
ther than as they serve to exhibit a general view of the for- 
mation of the kingdoms and slates of modern Europe. The 
Goths had established their kingdom in Spam, about A. D. 
472 ; and Clovis established the French monarchy about the 
end of the fifth century. The Saxons had entered into Eng- 
land so early as A. D. 440. And the sixth century is dis- 
tinguished by the establishment of the Saxon heptarchy in 
this coi!ntry ; the con^juest of Burgundy and Acquit ain by 
the French, and the complete establishment of the French 
monarchy. The kingdom of Idoacer, in Italy, was conquer- 
ed by Theodoric, king of the Goths, who was subsidized and 
commissioned by the Court of Constantinople, and reigned 
king of Italy under the sanction and authority of the eastern 
Emperor, to whom he acknowledged himself a vassal. The- 
cdoric is represented as a prince of great political virtues, 
hut so ignorant of letters that he could not sign his name. 
Italy, howei .'. , (louiisjied under his reign ; he preserved 
the Goths and lialians, as two distinct nations, reservujg the 
former for the em^)loyments of war, and the latter for those 
of peace. On the death of Theodoric his kingdom devolved 
upon his beautiful and accomplished daughter, Analasontha, 
whose exile and death happened A. D. 535. Theodoric 
had reigned under the sanction of the imperial court of Con- 
st antioople, and, although king of Italy, had always acknovy- 
iedged hin>selfthe ally and dependent of the eastern empire ; 
hut after the exile and death of his daughter, the Goths of 
Italy refused t« acknowledge the paramount authority of the 
imperial court, and renounced all dependence on, and con- 
nection with, the empire. Justinian then reigned over the 
east, and dispatched his general, Belisarius, into Italy. Bel- 
isarius enteied Rome, where he was besieged by the Goths. 
His gallant and ahnost incredible defence of the city, with 
only 5000 veterans, against a numerous army of Goths com- 
maiided by Yitiges, their king, during the space of a whole 
3 ea?-, A D. 537, is deemed one of the most signal military 
exploits recorded in Isistory ; although it may not be unreasona- 
ke 10 suppose, that our account of it is somewhat exaggerated. 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 223 

as it is related by Procopius, an author partial to the inter- 
ests and the fame of Belisarius. The military achievements 
oi that great general, are however sufficiently authenticated to 
iuidioitalize his name. Belisarius made many daring and suc- 
cessful sallies out of Rome, and the Goths are said to have 
lost 30,000 men in one general assault. They were obliged 
to raise the siege on the arrival of fresh troops from Constan- 
tinople. Belisarius at length subdued the Gothic kingdom 
of Italy ; Vitiges, their king, surrendermg on conditions, was 
sent to Constantinople, and Justinian assigned him for his 
maintenance a rich estate in Asia minor ; and, on his conform- 
ing to the Athanasian creed, conferred on him the rank of 
partrician and senator, which still continued as honorary ti- 
tles, in the empire. Gulimer, king of the Vandals, had also 
an ample estate assigned him, but could not enjoy any hono- 
rary title, that being incompatible with his professing Arianism. 
The Goths again revoltedunder the command of Tetiia, whom 
they had elected king, on which Belisarius, a second time 
entered Italy. Rome was taken by the Goths, A. D. 546, 
and retaken by Belisarius, A. D. 548. Belisarius be- 
ing recalled, Rome was again captured by the enemy. The 
command of the army of Italy then was conferred on Narses, 
the eunuch, a person of consummate military skill, and the 
most daring courage. This general defeated and slew Te- 
tiia, the Gothic king, and made himself master of Rome, 
A. D. 55*2. He also defeated and slew Teias, who had 
succeeded Tetiia, as king of the Goths, A. D. 553. Im- 
mediately after followed a formidable invasion of Italy by the 
Franks and Altemanni, whose vast armies poured in Hke a 
deluge ; but those invaders were defeated by Narses, with pro- 
digious slaughter, A. D. 554. Italy was then made a pro- 
vince of the eastern or Byzantine empire, and a government 
established under the denomination of the exarchate, of 
which the eunuch Narses, who had distinguished himself by 
the most signal display of military talents, and dauntless cour- 
age, was the first exarch. The long and bloody series of 
reiterated invasions and repulses, of plunder, desolation, 
and butchery, which, from the reign of Honorius, in the west, 
to that of Justinian, in the east, during a space of nearly a 
hundred and fifty years, desolated Italy, and fill the volumes 
of historians of that calamitous period, would rather 
deserve to be buried in eternal oblivion, than to be recalled 



224 LETTERS Let. XIX. 

to the remembrance of after ages, did not a cursory view of 
them contribute to shew the gradual downfal of the Ro- 
man empire, with the scenes of war and slaughter which took 
place before the northern nations could establish their do- 
minion on the ruins of that colossal power. 

The history of these times, however, among all its dis- 
gusting scenes, exhibits some great and extraordinary charac- 
ters, which merit a place in the memory of posterity ; parti- 
cularly the Emperor Justinian, and his celebrated generals, 
Belisarius and Narses. Fortune seems to have singled out 
Justinian in an extraordinary manner, as the object of her 
favours. He owed his elevation to his uncle Justin, who was 
born of an obscure family of peasants in Dacia ; on the north 
side of the Danube, and, with two other peasants of the same 
village, deserting the profession of husbandry, and with a 
scanty provision of biscuit in their sacks, travelled to Con- 
stantinople, to try their fortune in that capital, which was then 
the central point of human action, and the most conspicuous 
theatre for the display of every kind of talents. There is 
not, perhaps, in the history of mankind, any thing more 
agreeable, or more striking, than the exhibition of extraordi- 
nary characters, and the display of those singular vicissitudes 
which have marked the lives of some exti'aordinary person- 
ages, who seem to have been selected by the Divine Provi- 
dence to act a distinguished part on the great theatre of the 
world. Justin, on his arrival at Constantinople, v;'as, by rea- 
son of his strength and stature, received into the body guards 
of the Emperor Leo. Under the two succeeding reigns, 
Justin emerged from poverty and obscurity to wealth and 
promotion. Having distinguished himself in the war against 
the Persians, his merit advanced him to the successive ranks 
of military preferment. He was at the last dignified with the 
title of Senator, and obtained the command of the imperial 
guards. Being in this favourable situation, at the death of 
the Emperor Anastassius, he seized that opportunity of rais- 
ing himself to the soverei2;nty of the eastern empire ; and, by 
means of his advantageous post, and his influence over the 
soldiery, seated himself on the imperial throne, at the ad- 
vanced age of sixty-eight. Justin, like Theodoric, king of 
Italy, was totally illiterate; and it may be regarded as a cir- 
l^cumstance somewhat singular, that two of the most powerful 
contemporary monarchs in the world, were wholly ignorant 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 225 

of letters : Justin drew his nephew, Justinian, from the same 
village, and the same obscure employment in which he him- 
self had been bred. Thus was that fortunate youth drawn 
out of rustic obscurity, and acknowledged as presumptive 
heir of the eastern empire. He received an excellent lite- 
ra.y education at Constantinople, and, with every advantage 
in his favour, ascended the imperial throne on the death of 
his uncle. By the conquest of Italy and Africa, he gave to 
the eastern, or Byzantine empire, an aggrandizement and ex- 
tension, which it had never before possessed, since its sepa- 
ration fi om the western empire ; and distinguished himself by 
the display of consummate political and legislative abilities, 
during a long reign of thirty-eight, and a life of eighty-three 
years ; exhibiting, every circumstance considered, the most 
extraordinary instance of long continued personal prosperity, 
that is, perhaps, any where met with in history. Several of 
the Roiiian Emperors, as Claudhis, Probus, Aurelianus, Dio- 
clesian, Maximin. Galerius, and others, had risen from the 
most obscure condition to the empire of the world; but their 
elevation had been the hard-earned reward of merit, and 
sometimes the consequence of their crimes. Those Empe- 
rors had spent the flower of their age in the hardships and 
dangeis of a military life ; some of them, during a long time, 
in subordinate situations, without ever having had an oppor- 
tunity of obtaining an education suitable to the exalted station 
to which they were afterwards raised. The same observa- 
tions may be made in regard to some other Emperors of the 
east, after Justinian, and particularly Basil, the Macedonian. 
We have alfeo, in the last century, seen Nadir Shah, com- 
monly called Kouli Khan, from a captain of robbers, become 
the sovereign of Persia, the conqueror of the Mogul empire, 
and the domineering rival of the Ottoman power. None of 
the successful adventurers here mentioned, had the advan- 
tages of a liberal education, a prosperous life, and a glorious 
reign, like Justinian. He found e\ery advantage thrown in 
his way, in early youth, without the labour of acquisition ; 
and, without exertion, hazard, or criminality, w^as advanced 
from the lowest state of obscurity to the most exalted station 
of human greatness, which he held, with distinguished splen- 
dor and reputation, during the course of a very long life. 
The hard-earned, and short-lived glory of other Emperors, 
who, like him, had risen from obscurity, followed military 



226 LETTERS Let. XIX. 

merit, displayed in a life of hardships and danger ; but the 
good fortune of Justinian rushed upon him before he had dis- 
tinguished himself by the exertion of his abilities, and only 
served to display his great talents to the view of the world. 
To render Justinian a complete pattern of human felicity, na- 
ture had endowed him witii an excellent genius, a sound and 
vigorous unc!erstanding, a robust constitution, and ^almost un- 
interrupted health. There are sorrje writers, who, in deli- 
neating Justinian's public and private character, endeavour 
obliquely to diminish kis reputation in the eyes of posterity. 
This is frequently atteoipled by the enemies of Cln istianity, 
with whom he is not a favoiite character ; as he not only dis- 
tinguished his piety and zeal for religion, in building the su- 
perb cathedral of St. Sophia, bs^t also, in being the strenuous 
assertor of the doctrines of the church against all such 
opinions as were stigmatized with the name of beresies. It 
appears, indeed, that bigotry was the greatest and almost the 
only blemish in Justinian's character ; and from that he cer- 
tainly was not free, as he gave himself no small trouble. in tlie 
vain attempt to bring all men to be of one ofinion, in regard 
to religion. The mosi; partial enemies of his fame aci?:uow- 
ledge his merit as a philosopher, a politician, and a legislator ; 
as well as his acquaintance with literature and the arts. He 
has left a noble monument of his legislative abilities in his code 
of laws, which is esteemed the foundation of the civil juris- 
prudence of modei'n Europe, although variously modified, 
according to the exigencies of various circumstances. The 
magnificent cathedral of St. Sophia, now a Mahometan 
mosque, of which he himself was one of the principal archi- 
tects, remains a no less noble monument of his skill in archi- 
tecture. His acquisition of knowledge was the elFect of 
steady application in the exertion of a poweiful genius. He 
was abstemious in his diet, and still more so in the measure of 
his sleep. After the repose of a single hour he frequently 
arose, and sludied until the morning. With an excellent ge- 
nius, seconded by such intense application, and such restless 
activity of mind, joined to a vigorous constitution, and uniii-* 
terrupted health, during the course of so long a life, it is not 
surprisin,^ that Justinian's intellectual attain'iients were very 
considerable. His political talents were manifested in the 
manner in whi<h he conducted his wars, and in his choice of 
•ommanders, by whose consummate abilities and successful 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY, 221 

exertions, the Gothic and Vandahc kingdoms of Italy and 
Africa were annexed to the eastern or Byzantine empire, 
which, afier the acf|uisi'iii)n of those countries, wanted only 
Spain, France, and Biitain, to give it the full extent of the 
iina!vi(ied Roman empiie, wiren in the zenilh of its greatness. 

B'^lis^arkis and Narses are characters scarcely less remark- 
able, or less distinguished in history, than their master Justi- 
nian: They weie both of them oi an obscure original, and 
brought up to osean employments. Both of them were ad- 
vanced to great ptefeiment, and signahzed themselves, by 
their coura^;e and conduct, in the i lost trying situations, ex- 
hibiting an inconlestible proof of Justinian's discernment in 
discovering so much merit in an inieiior station. The wojld 
has long been amused with a riiiicjiloiis tale of Beiisarius hav- 
ing been deprived of sight, and in consequence of the confis- 
cation of his property, reduced to the necessity of asking 
alms in the street. The whole transaction from which that 
fiction arose, is, that BeiisariLfS having been accused of a con- 
spiracy against the Emperor, was imprisojied ; but being 
found innocent, was in consequence liberated ; although Jus- 
tinian seized the greatest part of his immense property. It 
is surprising that historians should delight in imposing ridicu- 
lous fictions upon the credulity of their readers. 

In the reign of Justinian, the eastern empire, although in 
the meridian of its glory, experienced, together with the 
greatest part of the world, calamities of a physical nature, 
which it was out of the reach of human prudence to prevent. 
Tremendous earthquakes happened almost every year 
throughout the whole extent of the empire ; but this rei^n is 
still more fatally remarkable, on account of a dreadful pesti- 
lence which is said to have njade its first appeal ance ii! tiie 
neighbouihood of Peiauum, in Egypt, a city on the eastern- 
most branch of the Nile. This di-eadful conta^^ion sp ead 
over the greatest part of Asia, Africa, aoJ E irope, and 
scarcely any place escaped the ir.fecdon. Durini; 'he space 
of three months, from five to ten thousand died daily in Con- 
stantinople: many cities in the east were almost depopulate*! ; 
and in some paits of Italy the harvest and vinta2:e rotted on 
the ground. This pestilence broke out in the fifteenth year 
of Justinian's reign, and was of such continuance, that the 
coiKagion was not extinguished ia less than fifty-two years ; 



228 LETTERS Let. XIX. 

so long was the duration of this calamitous period in the phy- 
sical circumstances of the human species. 

While the reign of Justinian constituted the most brilliant 
period in the history of the Byzantine empii-e, Europe dis- 
played a striking contrast to the splendid greatness of Con- 
stantinople. Jtaly dehiged wi<h blood by the Gothic wars. 
The kingdom of France was not completely settled ; and the 
Franks, Burgundians, &c. in their vai ious contests, rendered 
France and Germany a scene of carnage and devastation ; 
and England was the theatre of continual wars between the 
Britons and the Saxons, who established their heptarchy in 
this country in the reign of Justinian* We have but little 
information of the manners of those tumultuous ages ; but it 
may, in general terms, be said, that they were barbaious, 
warlike and supersthious. The arts and sciences were al- 
most annihilated, and literature almost extinguished, by the 
northern nations, whose taste was entirely for emigration and 
conquest ; and who esteemed the arts of peace and civiliza- 
tion as little worth their notice. The Byzantine empire 
was the only part of the then known world which could, with 
propriety, be called civilized ; and Constantinople, the cen- 
tre of ail that was great and estimable in literature and the 
arts. Every study that is calculated for the ornament of 
the human mind, and the improvement of its faculties, was 
neglected ; and probably, would have been totally forgotten, 
had not the monks preserved as much as could be preserved 
from the universal wreck of literature. 

Soon after the death of Justinian the eastern empire be- 
gan to decline from that splendor wi'h which it shone in his 
reign. After the successive rei:;ns of Justin the Second, and of 
Tiberius, which filled up the interval fro;n the death of Jus- 
tinian, which happened A. D. 56 y^ to !he accession of Mau- 
rice, A. D. 582, a spirit of faction and revolt began to fer- 
ment in Constantinople, which, at last, terminated in the de- 
position and death of Maurice, and the election of Phoeas, 
the Centurion, A. D. 602. Phoeas, was in his turn depos- 
ed and put to death by Heraclius, whose reign is rendered 
remarkable by one of the most obstinate and ruinous contests 
recorded in history, which was many years carried on be- 
tween the eastern empire and Persia ; the consequences of 
which proved decidedly fatal to the latter, and nearly so to 
the former of those tw o powerful empires. This wai' be- 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 229 

tween (be Bj^zantine and Persian eiripires is remarliable for 
the obstinacy with which it was carried on, and the extraor- 
dinai'v efforts of the contending parties ; but it is rendered 
still more memorable, by serving as an introduction to a train 
of events, at that time unforeseen and unthonghtof, but which 
were shortly after to astonish the world. It wiii easily be 
understood, that the establishment of Mahometanisiii is here 
alluded to. 

On the commencement of the war, Chosroes, the Persian 
monarch, had entered the Byzantine dominions, and con- 
quered Syria and Palestine, and sacked Jeiusaiem, He 
soon after added Egypt and Asia Minor to his conquest. 
During a period of twelve years, from A. D. 610, to A. D. 
622, the eastern empire exhibited a scene of almost unexam- 
pled distress. All this time the provinces, from the head of 
the Adriatic to the suburbs of Constantinople, were ravaged 
by the Chan of the Avars, who had subdued the Huns, and 
resided in the royal village of Attila, in the great plain of 
Hungary. A Persian army was, during the space of ten 
years, encamped at Chalcedon, now Scutari, on the brink of 
the Bosphorus, directly opposite to Constantinople. The gen- 
eral consternation was so great, that the Emperor was about to 
leave the city, and transport himself, w^ith the treasures of 
the imperial palace, to Carthage, when the patriarch, arrest- 
ing his flight, led him to the altar of the church of St. So- 
phia, and extorted from him a solemn oath that he would 
live and die with his people. 

Heraclius having by this solemn oath, on the altar of the 
Supreme Being, bound himself to the defence of his coun- 
try, took the decisive, but dangerous measure of transport^ 
ing himself, with an army, by the Euxine, into the heart of 
the Persian dominions ; and recommending his children to 
the care and protection of the people, he first made a de- 
scent in the southern parts of Asia Minor, where he gave the 
Persians a signal defeat, and returned to Constantinople, in 
order to carry into execution his project of an exhibition, by 
the Enxine, against the Persian territories. Having vested 
the civil and military authority in proper, hands, and given a 
discretionary power to the patriarch and senate, to hold or 
surrender the city, according to the exigency of circumstan- 
ces, the Emperor with a chosen band, sailed from Constanti- 
nople to. Trebisand where he assembled his whole ainay, and 

U 



H'SO LETTERS Let. XIX. 

diiccted his march to Taiiris, in Media. Every where he 
extinguished the sacred fire, and destroyed the temples of 
the Magi, demolished Ihe statues of Chosroes, destroyed 
the city of Ormia, and delivered 50,000 captives. He 
then carried his victorious arms to the cities ot Casbin and Is- 
pahan, and totally defeated the numerous forces of the Fer- 
sians. Chosroes exhausted the streng, th of his kingdom, and 
divided his levies into three foi niidable armies ; the first 
marched against Heraclius, the second to prevent his junc- 
tion with his brother Theodorus, and the third being desti- 
ned to act against Constantinople, marched to Chaicedon. 
On the European side, the Avars, v/ith an army of eighty 
thousand men, laid siege to that metropolis, which was then 
completely invested ; and the Avars assaulted the city du- 
ring ten successive days, without success. Heraclius enter- 
ed into an alliance with ihe Turks, w^lio, on this occa^^ion, 
are mentioned for the first time in history, and obtained from 
them a leiofoi cement of 40,000 horsemen. Having mustered 
and reviewed his whole army of subjects and strangers, a de- 
cisive battle was fought on the banks oi the Tigiis, on ihe ^ ery 
ground where Nineveh is supposed to have once s^ooti. In 
that battie the commander in cidef of the Persians was slain, 
arid their whole army almost entirely cut to pieces. Hera- 
clius, on that occasion, is said to have performed prodigies, 
and to have slain three distinguished Persian commanders 
with his own hand. He then ravaged Assyria, viyd penetra- 
ted to Dastagard, the royal residence of Chosroes, a place 
of uriparalleled magnificence, which he plLuidered and burnt, 
and carried devastation and slaughter to the rery centre of 
the Persian dominions. Such continual disasters excited 
a general revolt of the Persians against Chosioes, who being 
deported, Siroes, his son, was prorldim d king,. Siroes then 
Diit to death his Tather, and eighteen brothers, and made 
Deace with Heraclius ; in consecjuence of which the former 
boundaries bi the Byzantine and Persian empires were restor- 
ed. - • 

The nortliern nations, who had overthrown the Roman 
e?Tipire, were yet in aji unsettled state, and Europe still ex- 
hibited a disgusting scene of baibaiism and anarchy ; while 
Constantinople was tii'ampjiing in ilfe succesful termination 
of a war which bad threatened nothing less thgn the extinc- 
fiioa of the Byzantine empire. This was the political aspect of 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 231 

the woild, when that empire was about to be assailed by 
dangers of equal or superior magnitude to those from which it 
had, by the most desperate eifortSp just escaped ; and the 
e;ist was about to exhibit scenes of horror siaiilar to those 
with which the west had, during the space of two centuries, 
become familiarized; but proceeding from a more extraor- 
dinary and unexpected cause. A political, religions, and moral 
phenomenon, made its appearance in the world, which af- 
ter the propagation and estayishment of Chris; iaiiily, has had 
a more decided, a more extensive, and a more durable influ- 
ence on the condition and ideas of mankind than any orher 
event recorded in history. About A. D. 609, rTJahornet, 
an Arabian, a native of the city of Mecca, situated not far 
from the eastern shore of the Red Sea, having assTimed tlie 
name and character of a prophet sent from the Ahiiiglily, 
with an extraordinary mission," to reclaim bis co^uitrymen 
fiom zabaism and idolatry, and the rest of marikind fro;;i 
error of every kind, had, by these pretensioiis, exciled 
against himself a faction of his fellovv^-citizeris, io consequence 
of which he was obliged to fly, with a company of liig kin&- 
men and followers, from Mecca to Medina, A. D. 622, At 
this place he assumed the military, as well as the prophetic 
character, an ■ having; made many cooYerfs, assembled iogeti> 
er a determined and daring ^band, whose courage he excited 
by the promise of a paradise, filled with all maiisier of sensual 
delights, to all his foUoivers ; but especislly to those who fell m 
his cause : he assaidted and Ci?ptured Mecca, and siibdiieiL one 
after anothei', all the Arabian tribes. In exaipinini/ ai^d ei^<- 
timating the character 'of this extraordinary iiian, the iiicsl 
narrow-minded |j.re;udice cennot refuse to do iuistice fo his 
political abilities, particularly his extraordinary tnieyt of loin:- 
ing a nght judgment of mankind. Re knew the scnriaal 
disposition of his countrymen, the Arabiar^s, arid of the peo- 
ple of the neighbouring countries ; and he iiivenied a para- 
dise exacHy suitable to their taste, and calculated to gain 
them over to hh cause. He was' not unacquainted with ihe 
p. 'opensity of mankind to flatter themselves with the hope 
of obTaiijiog what they earnestly desire, and the accuston^ed 
energy ol their en-ieavours to obtain it ; and on those ]>ri5Ki" 
pies he planned hi^ reli.ioiis system, in order to inspire his 
followers with courage and resohition to carry into execution 
the project of con(|uest which he had meditated. CoiiBiuei- 



282 LETTERS Let. XIX. 

i iig the volTipfiioiisdisposition of the people of those coun- 
tries, he aliovved poligarnj to his follov/ers ; but strictly pro- 
hibiieci the use of wine, mm ail intoxicating liquors, to which 
the people of that climate had no very strong piopensity, and 
of which thej could more contentedly sutler the pnvation. 
^lahomet is said to have adopted this prohibition of the use 
of wine from his experience of the dangerous consequences 
©I intoxication, having, on a certain occasion, been surprised 
by the enemy ^ and in imminent danger of being cut off with 
his iiliie tjoop, when his followers had been indulgiiig too 
freely in the use of wine. Whetlier this circumstance be 
true, and (he iniiiiediate motive to his prohibition of the use 
©f inebria!iag liquors, or not, it seems that Mahomet deemed 
intoxication a vice which degraded human nature, and hab- 
its of drunkenness as incompatible with a capacity for great 
undertakings ; and for this reason resolved, by taking away 
the temptation, to prevent the introduction of so dangerous a 
vice among his followers. Distinguishing with acute and 
penetrating sagacity between the propensities which are im- 
planted by nature, and those which are acquired by habit, 
he gave the most extensive indulgence to the former, but none 
to the latter. His religious system appears also to have 
been fra!iied on an extensive observation of human circum- 
stances, -cmd a sagacious estimate of human propensities, pre- 
judices, and general ideas. He observed, that the belief of 
one only God was the creed of the Jev/s and Christians, and 
that this belief had trioiijphed over all the different sj^stems 
of Paganism esfabli-.hed among the ancients. Although Ma- 
li r^jiet was totally illiterate, he had, undoubtedly, by his long 
and extejisive acquaintance wiih. the Christians of Palestine, 
and more e?pecia.lly by the instruction of his coadjutor, Ser- 
gius, the monk, obtained a knowledge of the Christian his- 
tory, of the circumstances of its propagation and establish- 
ment, and its ultimate triumph over Paganism. He might, 
Yery probably, also consider the unity of the Supieme Be- 
ing as so rational a doctrine, that it could not fall, in the end, 
to triumph over every system of polytI^&>;m and idol wor- 
ship ; and, consequently, that no religious system could ever 
make its way in the world, imless it was founded upon that 
leading principle. He had also observed, that the Chris- 
tians, although loose and profligate in their morals, and di- 
vided into many diSeient sects and parties, had, not withstand- 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 233 

ing, so great and general a veneration for the name of 
Christ, that he should make few converts among them, if he 
entirely rejected the belief of his divine mission. He, Ibcre- 
fore, acknowledged the divine authoiitj of Jesus Christ's mis- 
sion, but rejected the doctrine of the divinity of his person. 
This latter, indeed, he could not cor.^^istentij wiii his plan 
admit, as such an acknowledgment would have been incoai- 
patible with his design of setting up himself as the gseatest 
of all the prophets which had ever appeared in the world. 
Setting out upon these principles, Mahomet declared himself 
the last and greatest prophet of the Most High, ordained to 
preach the unity of the Divine Nature, and the tiue worship 
of the Supreme Being. After he had associnted (o himself 
a considerable number of followers, and found himself suiS- 
ciently strong for offensive measures, he declared that his di- 
vine commission extended to the use not only of per- 
suasive, but also of compulsive measures in the propagation 
of his religion. The ordinances he published on that sub- 
ject asserted, that he and his faithful followers, were invest- 
ed with a rightof making use of armed force, in order to corn- 
pel mankind to embrace the doctrines of the Koran, or word, 
which he publicly declared to have been conveyed to him 
from heaven by the angel Gabriel ; and that, on their refu- 
sal, they should, if they were Jews, or Christians, be allow- 
ed the free exercise ofiheir religion, on the conditioa of pay- 
ing tribute. I^o Pagans lis did not ail<3W the same privilege 
of conditional toleration, and left them no other alternative 
than conversion or death. Mahomet's arms being every 
where successfiil, all Arabia vras soon conquereii ; knt 
althou2;h he entered into a war with the eastern empire, about 
three years before his death, which happened in the 64ih 
year of his age, A. D. 632, he did not extend his power 
much beyond the limits of Arabia. His successor, Abjibe- 
kar, commenced a war against Persia, which had not yet re- 
covered itself from the confusion into which it hail heeu 
thrown by the dreadfci contest with the easlesn empire, m 
the reign of Chosroes, which terminated so fatally to that 
priflce, and to his kingdom. AbubelLar diefJ, A. -K 634, 
after a short reign of two years, and was succeeded by Omar, io 
whose reign of ten years ve= y corjsiderayle conquests were niaile 
from thc^ ea'^tecn or Hyrdutme empire,. Syiia i as conquered 
bj Cakdaud Abu-Obeidaj lieutenants of Om&i'; mid Amroii^ 

f T 9. 



•234 LETTERS Let. XVHV 

another lieutenant of the same prince, conquered Egypt, 

A. I). 63o. These were fatal strokes to the eastern empire, 
v^hich nevei' niOiC recovered its former power and greatness. 
The loss of Egypt could not but be severely felt by the people 
of Constant ihopie, as that country was always esteemed the 
granary of the capital ; and aii Syria being in the possession of 
the eneniy, opened a way into Asia Minor, and laid all the pos- 
sessi<->ns m ihe Byzantine empire in Asia exposed to invasion* 
The events which took pLice in the reign of Heraclius ex- 
hibit a strikiijig iiiatance of the uncertainly oi political science, 
and the contracteci sphere of human foresight. The By- 
zantine emphe saw, or at least thought itself delivered from 
all danger, hy its triumph over an implacable, a powerful, and 
for a long time, a victorious enemy ; by whose vigorous ef- 
forts it had been, at one time, brought to the verge of de- 
struction ; and Persia was reduced to so feeble and exhausted 
a state, as not to seem likely, at least during a long time, to 
give any cause of apprehension or alarm. In this prosperous 
siiuatioo Constantinople seemed to have gained every point, 
and to have reached ihe summit of political happiness and 
security, ty tlie entire depression of her great and dangerous 
rival; but tliis depression of Persia was one great step to- 
wards the aggranc izemeiit of the Suacen empire. The sig- 
nal success of Pleraclius against Chosroes, by weakening, 
exhausting and throwing into confusion, the Persian mon- 
archy, caused it to fall a prey to the Mahometan Caliphs ; 
wl]o, by the acfjuisition of so vast a territory, became after- 
w^ards more formidable to the eastern empire than the Per- 
sians had ever been. If ihe war between Heraclius and 
t'iiosroes had not exhausted the resources of the Byzantine 
and Persian empires, the Saracens, in all probability, would 
never liave becoiiie so powerful. If the Persian monarchy 
had coi^nni?ed in its full strength and power, as in the reign 
of Chosioes, before the commencement of that disastrous war, 
it woisld have served to balance the pow^er of the Caliphate, 
whicii would, therefore, have been far less formidable to the 
eastern eiupire. When Heraclius had, by almost unparal- 
leled eiioris, entirely broken the pov/er of Persia, it might 
have been conjectured, with a very great appearance of pro- 
bability, that the eujpire of Constantinople was delivered from 
its most potent and dangeious enemy, and had not any thing 
more to apprehend on the Asiatic side ; when, contrary to 
ali expectation, the depression of Persia gave a formidable 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 235 

accession of strength to a rising power, which often threaten- 
ed the subversion of the eastern empire, and actuallj reduced 
its dominions within a narrow compass. 

Ahuost every scholar is acquainted with the story of the 
destruction of the famous Alexandrian library, by Amrou, 
after the capture of that city. Theie is, however, some rea- 
son to doubt of its authenticity. Eutychius, patriarch of 
Alexandria, who wrote a circumstantial narrative of the Sa- 
racen conquest, does not mention the conflagration of the 
Alexandrian library ; and some good mndern critics say, that 
Abulpharagius, who composed his history six hundred years 
after the event, and at the distance of six hundred miles from 
the place where it happened, was the only author of the sto- 
ry. It is, however, impossible to ascertain the documents 
from which this author compiled his narrative ; and the si- 
lence of Eutychius, who was prior to Abulpharagius, although 
it may weaken, does not completely invalidate the testimony 
of the latter. An author may sometimes, through forgetful- 
ness, inattention, or from some other cause, omit in his rela- 
tion an important circumstance, which is not the less true on 
account of such omission. The authenticity of the univer- 
sally known, and generally believed story of the conflagration 
of the Alexandrian librarv, bv the Saracens, cannot now be 
either ascertaiued or invalidated ; but it is very certain, that 
this celebrated collection of human knowledge had been much 
diminished long before that time. In the time of the Ptole- 
mies, if is said by some to have consisted of 500,000, and by 
others. of 700,000 volumes. It was, at that time, the great- 
est repository of literature and science existing in the world, 
and probably contained a vast collection of the learning of the 
ancient Egyptians. It is now impossible to trace the causes 
which occasioned its decline, but it is certain that many of the 
volumes of ancient learning perished in the time of Caesar's 
Alexandrian war, when they could no more be restored. 

The Caliph Omar died A. D. 644 ; and in the . reign of 
Othman, his successor, \\-\^ conquest of Persia was completed 
by Caled. In this reign, Abdallah, one of the lieutenants of 
Othman, invaded the African provinces, jt.\ subject to Con- 
stantinople; and part of Africa, which had formerly been 
under the doaiinion of the Roman, and afterwards of the 
eastern, or Byzantine ejupire, and which extended from 
Egypt to the Atlantic, and from the Mediterraneap to the 



286 LETTERS Let. XIX. 

great Desert, fell under the power of the Mahometan Ca- 
liphs, A. D. r09. The invasion of Spain, by Tarik, lieute- 
nant of Musa, who governed Afiica, in quaiitj of viceroy, for 
the CaHph VVeled, took place A. D. 710; and before the 
completion of A. D. 713, the conquest of the whole kingdom 
was completed, except some of the mountainous parts to- 
wards the north-west, to which some Spanish chiefs retired 
with their followers, and bravelj maintained their indepen- 
dence. 

The history of the world had not, previous to that period, 
been able to record so extraordinary a series of conquests as 
those of the Mahometan Caliphs, who, within eightj-one 
years after the death of Mahomet, had conquered Persia, Sy- 
ria, Egypt, ail the northern countries of Africa, together with 
the kingdom of Spain, and extended their empire from the 
Indus to the Atlantic ocean. The conquests of Alexander 
had, indeed, been more rapid, and almost as extensive, but far 
less singular and extraortiinary in their nature. The politi- 
cal and military circumstances of the Greeks, who conquered 
the Persian empire, were widely ditferent from those of ihe 
Arabs, or Saracens, who subjugated so considerable a part 
of the world. Alexander, at the head of the combined Ma^ 
cedonians and Greeks, as it has been aheady remarked, com- 
manded an army, which, in discipline, uiiliiary skill, and com- 
plete equipment, equalled, or rather surpassed, any thing of 
the kind v/hich the world had ever seen. But the Arabians, 
emerging from their parched deserts, were neither nu/nerous 
nor well disciplined. The Greeks had long been famed, 
above all the other nations of the earth, for the superiority of 
their skill in arms ; and the Macedonians had, by their talents, 
and exertions of their politic and warlike king Philip, acquir- 
ed a reputation, for discipline and tactical skill, equal, if not 
■superior, to that of the Greeks themselves. But the Sara- 
cens of the desert, and the untutored tribes which inhabited 
the different parts of Arabia, had never been ranked in the 
class of wa. like nations. They had no martial exploits to 
boast of. Their nation was not mentioned in the annals of 
war. Their history recorded no conquests. To what cause 
then must the rapid and irresistible progress of their arms, at 
that memorable period, be ascribed? This is an inquiry 
which the intelligent reader of history is natnrally prompted 
I® make ^ and in contemplating the state ©f thii)gs, a^ thai 



Let. XIX. ON HISTORY. 237 

time, it will be discovered, that two conspicuous and remark- 
able causes concurred to produce this singular phenomenon. 
In consequence of the ruinous contest so long carried on be- 
tween lieraclius and Chosroes, with an obstinacy seldom pa- 
ralleled in the history of nations, the Persian monarchy was 
thrown into a state of weakness and anarchy ; and the By- 
zauiine empire, although at the last triumphant, had, during 
se\eral years before, tottered on the brink of destruction, and, 
after the successful termination of the war, found her resources 
quite exhausted, in consequence of her extraordinary efforts. 
Thus those two powerful empires, which held the political 
balance in the east, being quite exhausted and debilitated by 
their violent exertions, laid open to the attacks of a new and 
unexpected eneaiy. Persia fell a conquest to the Caliphate, 
and the eastern empire found itself destitute of energy to 
check the progress of a desperate and enthusiastic invader. 

The deDiiitated state of the Byzantine and Persian em- 
pires, at that critical juncture, was the great political cause 
which facilitated the progress of the Saracen caliphs, in ex- 
tending their conquests, and propagating their religion. The 
enthusiasm with which Mahomet had found means to inspire 
his followers, was tlie essential and active cause of the rapid 
progress of their aims ; and is an interesting circumstance in 
the iiisiory of the human mind. Numerous instances may be 
met with, of the surprising effects of enthusiasm on the mind 
of individuals ; but they are the most conspicuous and strik- 
ing when it animates whole nations and communities. Reli- 
gious and military enthusiasm may, in certain circumstances, 
be prociuctive of the most noble and laudable effects, and 
rouse the mind to the most glorious actions; but this kind of 
enthusiasm is, notwithstanding, exceedingly dangerous, and 
generally hostile to the tranquillity of mankind. The enthu- 
siasm of the Saracen conquerors, is, perhaps, the most re- 
markable instance of the kind recorded in history. It had 
its foundation in their religious principles. The system 
which Mahomet had framed, was peculiarly calculated to ex- 
Cite both religious and roilitary enthusiasm ; and may be con- 
sidered as the most masterly plan of proselytism, and con- 
quest, which had ever been concerted by any legislator or 
conqueror. By flattering the hopes and the inclinations of 
his followers with the prospect of a paradise of sensual de- 
lights ; a paradise accommodated to human comprehension, 



238 LETTERS Let. XIX. 

and adapted to human feeling;s ; and by promising to all who 
should fall in the support of his cause, and the propagation of 
his doctrines, an immediate entrance into this heaven of sen- 
sual felicity, he instilled into their minds the most powerful 
stimulus to courage and exertion. And at the same time, by 
inculcating the doctrine of absohite predestination, or unavoid- 
able fatality, he extinguished the first pi inciple, and strongest 
motive of cowardice, by persuading them that pusilanimity 
could not prolong their days, and ih-Ai the greatest caution in 
shunning danger would not retard the apjiroach of death. 
These principles formed the basis of that enthusiasm w-bich 
rendered the Arabs of the desert invincible, while the ex- 
hausted state of the Byzantine and Persian empires laid their 
dominions open to the attack of those enthusiastic conquerors. 
During the space of forty-two years, which elapsed between 
the conquest of Spain and the revolt of that kingdom, which 
completed the triple division of the Caliphate, the Saracen 
empire flourished in the plenitude of united power and undi- 
vided empire. The lust of conquest subsided. And as it 
has ever been the case, especially among those nations who 
owe their greatness to conquest and rapine, the eagerness of 
acquisition gave place to the desire of enjoyment. The 
change is natural. Experience shew^s that this has ever been 
the case, and reason tells us that it ever will be so. Among 
individuals some exceptions may be found, owning to peculiar- 
ity of taste and excentricily of character; but in regard to 
nations, the great social machine is moved by the taste of the 
majority ; and in every nation the majority act in conformity 
to the uniform propensities of human nature. This is an ob- 
servation which will always hold good. 

The political system ef the Caliphate was absolute mon- 
archy. Tiie authority of the Caliphs was, undoubtedly, as 
despotic as any that ever existed, as the supreme power, boih 
spiritual and temporal, resided in the person of the monarch, 
who was, at the san^e ihne, king and high priest of the Maho- 
metan religion, and consequeotlv possessed all the authority 
that can give to man power and influence over man. We do 
in)t, however, find tha^ the Caliphs exercised their authority 
in an unjust, crueS, or oppressive manner. They were the 
inierpre^ers of the la'.v, but not its so!;rce. The Koran was 
the universal and obligatory law which was to govern the con- 
duct Qi the sovereign as well as that of the subject. In G^- 



Let XTX. ON HISTORY. 239 

aminiiss the political and religions principles of the Caliphate, 
it appeaiS tiiat ihe govein;aen{, aiihoiigii despotic, was tunUa- 
mcijlaiiv of Ihe patiiaicLal kind. Tne Caliph did not con- 
sider hi iiseif bai-eiy as the soveieign oi a gie;>t and poweriul 
people, but also as the hij,h priest of his reh^ion, arid the 
iiduei o( t'iie fui Juui. A\ haiiitu the depajtine of the Caliphs 
fioin these piliicipies, or any tjrannicai excicih^e oi ihein, v^as 
ihe canse of the sevott of their pLOviaces, aiiu the diSiJtem- 
bei'inent of their eafpire, is a matter of which history gives 
no certain iiuorniatiori ; for we have only a few of the most 
eonspicuouHOiiUines of the hib^orj of the Caliphate, and know 
veij tittle of the political intrij^nes and inleiiiai circumstances 
of that empire. What we know with certainty of these 
things, is, that afler tiie revolt of Egypt, the dominions of 
the Cahphate, in Spain, followed the example, and a tiiple 
division of the empire took place about A. D. 755, forty-tvo 
yeaiS after the completion of the Saracen conquests. The 
three distinct Caliphates, however, fionrished during the 
space of about 180 years; but about the middle of the tenth 
century, the eastern Caliphate, of v/hich Bagdat, on the Ti- 
gris, was the seat of government, was broken, and its tempo- 
ral power w^holly annihilated by the revolt of its provinces 
under factious chiefs; and af^er that period the Caliphs pos- 
sessed no more than an empty title, and their office was con- 
fined to the atiairs of religion; and at last their spiritual, as 
well as temporal authority, was extinguished. 

The history of the Caliphate is very imperfectly known, 
nor do any authentic documents exist which can throw any 
consiiierable light on the subject. A remarkable circum- 
stance, which has been brought to light in later times, exhi- 
bits a proof that our know ledge of the Arabian history is veiy 
defective. When the Portuguese, under Vasco di Gaoia, 
sailing round the Cape, explored the coasts of Africa and 
India, they found both the eastern coasts of Africa, and the 
coast of Malabar, possessed by nations professing: the Maho- 
metan religion ; speaking a dialect of the Arabic kngiiage, 
and shewing every mark of an Arabian origiiial ; and lrtt\ing 
neither the same manners, nor the same language, as the Mo- 
guls or Mahometans of Hindostan, who were evidently a dif- 
ferent people. Succeeding discoveries have shewn, that the 
state of the different islands in the fncian seas was, and to 
this day is, the same as that of the Malabar coast. The 



240 LETTERS Let. XX. 

coasts of almost all those islands were possessed by Maho- 
metans, speaking a corrupt Arabic, and be} ond all manner of 
doubt of Arabian original; while the inteiior parts were in- 
habited by Pagans of a diiFerent complexion, and speaking a 
diiTerent language. Whether these eiiiio.ations of tlie Arabs 
have taken place, and the coasts of Africa, India, and the 
oriental islands, have been thus colonised hj enlerpi ising ad- 
venturers, during the flourishing stale of the Caliphate em- 
pire ; or whether those establit^hments have been made by 
emigrants, who left their country when the Caliphate had 
fallen into a state of anarchy, and become a prey to tyran- 
nical usurpers and foreign enemies, is a question which no 
historical documents now extant can decide. The circum- 
stance, however, evidently shews, that interesting events 
have taken place among the Arabs with which we are totally 
unacquaiuiedo 

Having taken a view of the rise and progress of Mahomet- 
anism, and of the rapid successes of the first Caliphs, succes- 
sors of Mahooiet; and also of the causes which produced 
such a spirit of enterprise, and facilitated its success, it will 
not, in the next place, be amiss to turn our attention to the 
genius and manners of the Arabians, and the state of litera- 
ture and science among them under the Caliphate. These 
particulars will furnish the subject of our next correspond- 
ence. 

I am, Sir, yours, &c. 
J* S* 



LETTER XX. 



Sir, 



IN attempting to delineate a sketch of the genius, man- 
ners, and intellectual attainments of the Arabians, under the 
successors of Mahomet, it will be proper to observe, that 
after the Caliphate was grown powerful and flourishing, the 
lust of conquest began to subside, and the impulse of enthu- 
siasm was weakened. This change produced another not 
less important and interesting. The Arabians, previous to 
that epoch, illiterate, and despisers of all intellectual pursuits 
and acquirements, began to cultivate tlie sciences, particu- 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 241 • 

iarlv natural philosophy, chemislrr, &c. and to improve their 
mental fiiculties, by the ^Uiily of literature. Tiicir slndieSj 
hou'ever, appear to have lui;en a ditterent direction from those 
of the Greeks and Romans. In their scientific and litei asy 
pmsiats, their taste iras, probably, deterrnined by their re- 
li.ii:ioiis principles, which v/ere diaaietricaliy opjjosite to those 
of the Greeks and Romans, and of ail the olher Pagan nations 
of antiquity: the mythology of the Pagans was a splendid 
and variegated system, calciilated to fill the irind wilh beanti- 
ful, although romantic and superstil ions ideas ; and the system 
of idol-worship afforded great encouragement to ilie study of 
statuary, sculpture, architecture, and painting. The Arabs 
were, by their religion, prohibited the cultivation of those 
imitative arts ; it being absolutely forbidden by the Koran to 
make or use the representation of any living creature what- 
ever. Nature had endued the Arabians wilh a lively and 
poetical imagination; but their poetry was of a different cast 
from tfiat of the Greeks, and other nations which had copied 
after the Grecian model. They could not, consistently with 
the rigor of their religious pi-inciples, adopt the mythological 
machinery of gods and heroes, with v;hich tile Pagans embel- 
lished their poems, and which the Christians, less scrupulous, 
and less enthusiastical, than the ]>iahometans, have not hesi- 
tated to adopt, not thinking it of any danr^erous tendcKcy, 
since the extinction of Paganism ; although it is certain, that 
during the first three or four centuries, the Christians would 
have been as scrispulous as the Mahometans in this respect; 
and that before Pagaoisni, as a religious system, was entirely 
exploded, and its rights abolished, no Christian would have 
invoked Apollo, or the Muses, or have decorated his poems 
with the intervention of gods and heroes, or demi-gods. The 
taste, the ideas, and manxners of men, are modelled by cir- 
cumstances. The poetry of the Arabians reseiubled that of 
the Hebre'vs, far more than that of the Greeks and Romans ; 
and instead of introducing the ideas of Pagan n^ythologv, 
they embellished their poetry with allusions to the grand and 
beautiful objects of nature. This has ever been the taste of 
the orientals ; and whoever observes the grar^d and beautiful 
imagery displayed in many parts of the sacred writings, par- 
ticularly the Prophecies and Psalms, which are, for the most 
part, poetical compositions, will confess it to be more natural, 
more instrisctive, and more interesting, than that of the 

X 



iJ42 LETTERS Let. XX. 

Greeks, which exhibits notliing else than a fictitious sceiieiy, 
a mere phantasiiiagoria of ihasory represento.tion. 

The poiilical system of the Caliphate, itifiuenced, in no 
sniail degree, the hterarj taste and piu sdits of the Arabians. 
The otatoi ical eloquence of the Greeks and Romans, v, iiich, 
among them, was the Q;rand object of a literary education, 
and of ah literary puisuit;'-, was of. no use, and conseqnen'iy 
held hi no esteem among those people who lived under the 
despotic government of a monarch, in wliose person all spi- 
ritual and temporal authority resided, and who was ihe sii- 
pren^e ihterpi eter of the law, as well as ihe sovereign judge 
of his people. This despotism of their government was a 
good reason for the neglect of the study of rhetoric among 
the Saracens, who had so litUe use for public speaking. 
Tiieir principal literary piirsuils v/ere history and poetry, 
vritli some comments on the Koran ; but their theological 
studies were circmnscribed within very narrow limits; for 
tlie Calipli, by his ofiice of high priest, and supreme ruler in 
gpirituyj, as temiporal allr.irs, was the judge and arbitrator of 
exevy thing written on the subject of religion, and his sanction, 
or disapprobation, determined the fate of every such perform- 
ance. In natural philosophy, medicine and chemistiy, how- 
ever, some useful discoveries were made by ihe Arabians. 
They also made a great proficiency in the study of algebra; 
and we are indebted to them for the a: ifhmetical figures^ or 
characters, now in use, and which are beyond comparison 
riiore convenientjand better adapted to numerical calculations, 
than the letters of the alphabet, which, before the invention of 
cyphers, by the Arabians, Vs^ere used in arithmetical operations. 

As' to what we can learn of the social manners of tlie Ara- 
biajiSj from the scanly iohirmalioo that history affords, it ap- 
pears that t'iiey were polished and humane, at least when 
coii^pareu with tho^^e of the Europeans of that period; and 
th:\i^ In the nioiit iloui-ishing state of their empire, they never 
plunged in'o th'xt excess of luxury which has prevailed a^'nong 
the iuciito-i pirc cf poverfol and wealthy nations. 

In regoid lO the co-nmerce of tliose ages, it may, in gene- 
ral term:-', be aa?d to have been wholly in the hands of the 
Caliphate and the Byztmtine empire, both of them situated in 
the centre of the cunticeut, and possessing ail the channels 
of coiiariynicLhoiri l>euveen the easlern and the western parts 
of the iLJobe. Before the rise of the Caliphate, the eastern 



Let. XX. O^ HISTORY. ^iti 

empire possessed the cominerce of the world, and Constan- 
tinople and Alexandria were the 2;reat marts of every kind of 
tralEc. After the Caliphs had conquered Egypt nnd Sjria, 
the communication between Constantinople and the east was 
entirelj cut off. It was, therefore, necessary to explore sorae 
other route to India; and a new channel ci communication 
ivas opened with the east by the \?ay of tTie Euxine, then 
over land to the Caspian sea and the river Oxos. By this 
long, tedious, and expensive route, the rich meichandise oi' 
India found, diirip.g many centuries, its-vray to Constantino- 
ple. The Arabians possessing Egypt, enjoyed an excolient 
situation for the commerce of tliQ east ; and, in order to open 
a comnianication with the Red sea and the Medi^ei'ranean, c?":! 
a canal from the Nile to the F^ed sea. This canal passed 
directly through the city of Cairo, v/hich was briilt by. t!ie 
Saracens; but, like all the other canals, cot for tliHt purpose 
by diiFerent kings of Egypt, it does not appear that it had 
ever completely answered the pisrpose foi' which it was in- 
tended. Egypt, however, by its central slfiration betwf'eo 
the eastern and western parts of the continent, po-^ess^ng 
advantages superior to those of eyery other coiuitry, con- 
tinued under the eorpire of the Ca'iphs, to eniross a ve; y 
considerable part of the commerce then carried on in the 
w^orld. Winle Enrooe, not yet recovered from tlie confi?." 
sion into which it had been thrown by the siibYer-^;h>n of t:?e 
Roman empire, and the establishment of so in..;:'/ ;;■' -. =:'.^g- 
doms and principalities upon its rnins, every \v':::-,::e ;:::ef'^ijted 
a scene of barbarism and anarchy. The e ;>■ .c of '.he Ca- 
liphs (ionrishing in literature and science, JU'ki U:e ?>. • 'ripal 
station in the political system. The Bysandoe c :^ i ■ . din- 
ing the same period, although sometimes hard ::,.;>^.r:.; f:y 
the Caliphate, vigorously repulsed all attacks, anJ rj^t rndv 
presented a formidable ft'ont to its enemies, bnt inmukihicd 
the appearance of grandeur and power ; and duriiig t !?e who^e 
period of the existence of the Saracen empire, w;i3 iB only 
rival and most formidable enemy. Constantinople v:?:-^ in 
fact, the bulwark of Christendom, as:ainst the exorbitairt kow- 
er of the , Caliphate. During the contest between the (wo 
powers, the Saracens tvvlce laid siege to that cspitaL. In 
their first attempt it v,'a3 blockaded on the side of the Frd- 
pontis by the Saracen fleet, from A. .D- 668 to A. 1). 675. 
The second siege of Constantinople was rendered memorable 



244 LETTERS Let. XX, 

by the invenfioii of the Greek (ire, a discovery which makes 
a disilaguished %ure in military history. This was a bitii- 
mifioos composition, which biunt with increasing furj in the 
WAier, and co;dd nol be quenched but with urine or sand. 
ft was inveoled by Calinlt«.!s, an engineer of Hierapolis, in 
Syria; or. as scj-x'^. rather tliink, of lieliopolis, in Egypt, and 
was long kept a nocret at Constantinople, and esteemed one 
of the gi'eat and vahjable arcana of government.. It was,' 
hov-i'erer, in ])rocess of time, communicated to the Saracens 
and other nadons ',:f those quarters ; and the Crusaders expe- 
rienced its destructive effecis^ From the relations of those 
who retoroed from tiie crusades, i( appears that the mode of 
using it was to eject it iiom large v^esaels, or tabes of metal, 
in a iriafiDer soi/ielliiog siiiillar to the discbarge of modern ar- 
tillery. It coniinaed in use among the Greeks and Saracens 
unlii it was superseded by Vne invention of gun-powder; but 
it does not appear that the secret was ever communicated to 
the western nations. In this memorable siege the Saracens 
had passed the Hellespont, and, with a numerous army, at- 
tacked the city on the land side, which was at the same tiirie 
blockaded with a formidable fleet. The Saracen fleet, con- 
sisting of about eighteen hundred sail, was totally destroyed, 
and Constantinople saved by the newly invented Greek fire, 
A. D. 7] 6. The enemy was compelled to raise the siege, 
with prodigious io^, and afterwards to conclude a disadvan- 
tageous peace. 

The history of the Christian church does not, during those 
dark and tumultuary times, aftbrd any pleasing view. T^he 
progress of Mahometanism was an event not less inimical to 
the interests of Christianity, than fatal to tlie greatness and 
splendor of the eastern empire; for previous to that event, 
Christianity had been the religion of ail those countries which 
afterward composed the enipi-e of the Caiiphs, except Ara- 
bia and Persia. To counterbalance this loss, orthodoxy had 
triumphed over Arianism, and witnessed its fall, by the con- 
quest of the Vandal kingdom of Africa ; soon after which 
event, Becared, king of the Visigoths, in Spain, with his peo- 
ple, renounced Arianism, and embraced the orthodox doc- 
trine. We have already observed, that after the reign of 
Theodosius the Great, the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity 
was the faith of the whole Roman empire, Arianism being, at 
the same time, the creed of all the other nsitious which had 



L^T. XX. ONHISTOEY. 245 

embraced Christianitj ; but diirinr^ Ihe time which had elaps- 
ed since the subversion of the western empire, ali the natioos 
which had estabhshed themselves upon its ruins, h'c;d adopted 
its reh^ion, among whom the Visi^^otlis, of SpaiD, were the 
last, having renounced Arianisra A. D. 586, and confornied 
to the doctrines of the Catholic church, as establiBhed and 
defined by the decrees of the general councils cfNice and 
Constantinople. From that epoch the orthodox doctrine of 
the Trinity, and of ike divinity of Christ, was the creed of 
the whole Christian world. Many subordinate doctrines and 
ordinances, not in use in the primitive ages, had gradually 
introdsiced themselves into the church. Religions, as well 
as political system.s, not being of a fixed and invariable na- 
ture, unless in regard to fmidamental principles, admit of va- 
rioos regulations and ordinances in conformity with the varia- 
tions of human circumstances. Among these siibordinate 
institutions, or religious customs, one of the most remarkable, 
on account of the division it made in the church, was the in- 
troduction of images ; an institution w hich has, in almost all 
ages of the church, divided the opinions of Christians, and of 
which, the propriety or improprietj', whJch can only depend 
■on existing circumstances, has been esteemed a subject of 
discussion of the utmost importance. 

The introduction of images into c hurches, undoub^ c g' > origi- 
nated in the real or supposed propriety and utilit}^ of i r prcbe^jt- 
ing absent objects, by visible symbols, for tlieinsiriiclion of I he 
ignorant, who were not thoi:ight capable of represeritiijo; 'hem 
to their own minds, -by ihe operation of the iDtesIectual p-ov:- 
ers. in the ages which elapsed before the invention ef the 
art of printing, the inidJilnde, in every country, wercj sr it 
has been already observed, extremely ignorant, and theii: 
means of acquiring knowledge exceedingly contracted. If 
was, and ever w^ill be found, a diScult task lo iiisiriict per- 
sons, who have no ideas, except such as were iiiipre;?r;ed on 
their minds by the most familiar objects. The diiScidty cf 
inculcating abstract ideas into uncultivated mindn, has been- 
experienced by every person who has undertaken t:.ie iask^ 
If, frorr; these considerations, we undertake to kr,-M, wsihoul 
being hiiiueuced by prejudice, an accurate judgment of ir.e 
'Conduct d those ep.rly guides of the church, whose office it 
was to direct the human mind in the i •iportard altair of: reli- 
gion, and to inculcate the mysteries of Christianity into 






X'^ 



246 LETTERS Let. XX. 

gross minds of an ignonant and unlettered multitude, tlieii' 
situation, and the arduous task they had undertaken, wij^ 
offer some apology for their suppositions of the utility of some 
kind of symbols, or visible representations of Christ and the 
saints, as an easy method of calling to their remembrance the 
sufferings and the sanctity of those glorified personages, whi> 
were now removed from their sight ; and this, no doubt, was 
all that was originally intended by such representations, not- 
withstanding the abuse of them, in some places, by the craft 
of the priests, and the superstitions of the people. The ad- 
versaries of images, however, alleged weighty reasons against 
their admission into places of religious worship, as an incite- 
ment to idolatry. In our days, all reformed churches, with- 
out exception, reject every idea of any superstitious venera- 
tion of those A isible representations ; but the greatest part of 
them make no scruple of admittiag them as ornaments into 
their churches, as well as into their gardens and palaces. 
The eastern churches reject the use of images in their places 
of reliiiiious worship, but commonly have them crowded with 
pictures. Whether a visible representation in colours, be 
either more holy, or less criiriinal, than if it wa« exhibited in 
the more dmabie materials of bras? or stone, it most certainly 
requires a skilful theologian to determine. The church of 
Rome admits of both images and paintings in her places of 
religious worship, as a means of instructing the ignorant, by 
a ready and instantaneous impression on the mind, through 
the nieuiura of the eye, which, together with the embellish- 
ment of tht; churches, was, undoubtediy, the original reason 
of their introduction. That church also permits a sort of 
respect and veneration for those representations, such as we 
are iiiclined to have for the picture of a friend whom we love, 
or of a, prince whom v,-e revere ; but disavows every idea of 
renflering them religious worship, whatever abuse of them may 
be observed in some places among ignorant and superstitious 
persons, such as are found in every religious community; for 
superstition is not confmed to any one sect or denomination 
of men^ but casts its gloomy veil over the illiterate vulgar of 
every religion, and of every nation, although the supersti- 
tions ^f ditfereot sects take a different direction, and exhibit 
tlifferent shades of colouring. 

This dispuie concerning the use and veneration of images 
is here exi>ibited in im historical view? merely as a circum« 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 247 

stance which merits attention in the history of religion, and 
of the human mind. The theological part of the question 
must be left to the discussion of divines. It must, however, 
be lamented, that Christians, in all ages, have been more in- 
clined to exercise themselves in theological disputes, than in 
the practice of that universal charity and benevolence which 
constitutes the characteristic and principal excellence of the 
Christian religion, and was invariably preached and practised 
by its Divine Author. This contest, however, between the 
advocates of the use of images^ and their opponents, was car- 
ried to as great a height as any that had ever agitated the 
church; and is particularly remarkable on account of its 
having occasioned the first schism between the Greek and 
Latin churches, and being the origin of those differences^ 
which, in the end, produced their final separation. 

The Christian church had, since the extinction of Arian- 
ism, in the sixth century, enjoyed tranquillity and union. In 
all ages, it is true, many different opinions, in religious mat- 
ters, will exist among men ; but when those opinions do not 
extend their influence beyond the breasts of individuals, or 
the regulations of some small society, they are not noticed by 
the historian. It is only when they influence the general 
state of the hierarchy, or disturb the tranquillity of the gen- 
eral system, that, like all other circumstances, which have 
an important eflect on the ideas and condition of mankind, 
they hold a distinguished place in the history of the human 
mind. 

The dispute concerning the prdpriety of the use of ima- 
s;es broke out about A. D. 720, in the reign of Leo, the 
Isaurian, who is distinguished in history as th& first of the 
Iconoclast emperors. As the dispute could not be amicably 
settled, a council was held at Constantinople, A. D. 754, 
consisting of 338 prelates of the eastern empire. In this 
council, all visible representations, or symbols of Christ, ex- 
cept in the eucharist, were condemned as heretical, and or- 
dered to be destroyed, A. D. 754. This celebrated dispute 
was not only the first step towards the separation of the 
Greek and Latin churches, but also, in a great measure, the 
immediate cause of the separation of Italy from the eastern 
empire, which revolted in the tenth year of the reign of Leo 
thfi Iconoclast; when anew Roman republic was establish- 
cdj which ijot being able to maintain its independence against 



248 LETTERS Let. X"X. 

the LombardF5, was delivered fro ra their oppression bj Pe- 
pin, king of France, whose son and successor, Charlemagne, 
received from Pope Adrian IV. the title and dignity of Em- 
peror of the Romans, which gave rise to the new empire of 
the west, now called the Gerraan, or in diplomatic language, 
the Roman empire. 

The decrees of the conncil of Constantinople, however, did 
not long maintain their authority. Irene, an Athenian vir- 
gin, for her beauty and accomplishments, had been ad- 
vanced to the imperial bed and throne, in conjunction with 
her son Constantine VL to reign at Constantinople, A. D. 
7S0. This Empress, infamous for her ambition, which so 
far overcame maternal affection, as to instigate her to cause 
the eyes of her son Constantine to be put out, that she might 
reign sole Empress of the east, was a strong advocate for the 
restoration of images. The second council of Nice, com- 
monly entitled the seventh general council, was held, in 
which the council of Constantinople was condemned, and im- 
ages restored, A. D. 787. This dispute, however, although 
terminated in favour of images, which were always held in 
respect by the Latin church, having at first caused a tempo- 
rary schism, paved the way, by the animosities it excited, 
for a total and final separation. Indeed, the two churches of 
the east and west were never more cordially united. The 
eastern church had, indeed, restored the use of images ; but 
Constantinople had not restored to the Bee of Rome the Ca- 
labrian estates, thelllyrian tliocess, which had been seised by 
the Iconoclast emperors and patriarchs dining the coolest. 

In the dark and gloomy ages which succeeded the subver- 
sion of the !^oman empire, scarcely any thing occurs in the 
history of Europe which h w^ortby to arrest the atteiiiion of 
the hisiorian, or of the reader of history. It may, in general 
terms, be observed, that the Franks, a natioi! originally in- 
habiting the farther banks of the Rhine, had so early as 
A. D. 400 begun to make irruptions into Gaol, and soon be- 
gan to establish themselves in that province, under the Mero- 
vingian race of kings. Clovis, the first Christian king of 
France having, by conquest, annexed the Gothic kingdom of 
Thoulouse to his monarchy. A.. D. 508, made Paris the cap- 
ital of his kingdom, and at his death divided his dominions 
among his four sons. After this the French rnocarchy was 
alternately united, or divided^ under the descendants of Clo- 



Lei^. XX. ON HISTORY. 249 

vis ; but the most striking features of the history of France, 
is the exh'?rbitant power acquired by those ministers, called 
Mkyors of the Palace. The monarch fell into a sort of 
siipineness, and neglect of pubHc affairs, and committed 
the sole administration of them to those officers. Pepin 
d'Heristal, so called from his palace'of Heristal, on the banks 
of the Meuse, having aggrandized himself, at the expence of 
his sovereign, had in effect acquired the regal authority, and 
wanted nothing but the regal title, while the monarch was 
nothing more than a mere pageant of power. Charles Mar- 
tel, so famous for his signal defeat of the Sai'acens, A. D. 
732, succeeded his father in the office of Maire de Palais, 
which those aspiring ministers had found means to render 
hereditary, and dying A. D. 741, was succeeded by his son 
Pepin, afterwards king of France. Pepin having caused his 
sovereign to be shut up in a monastery, ascended the throne, 
in which he was succeeded by his son Charlemagne, whose 
active and prosperous reign forms an epoch in the his- 
tory of Europe. Having subdued the kingdom of the Lom- 
bards, in the north of Italy, together with the best part of 
Germany, and, by the conquest of Italy, deliv^ered Rome 
from oppression, he was crowned Emperor of the Romans, 
by Pope Adrian the Fourth, A. D. 800 ; and Charlemagne 
being king of France, reigned over Germany and Italy as 
Emperor of the Romans. Here we see, at the same time, 
the origin both of the present German, or Roman empire, 
and of the temporal power of the Popes. Charlemagne 
stands conspicuous in the annals of Europe, as a distinguish- 
ed and illustrious character. He lived in the darkest times 
of Gothic ignorance, and was above forty years old before he 
learned to write, a convincing proof of the ignorance of those 
barbarous times. But he encouraged literature and learned 
men wherever he could find them. He founded the univer- 
sity of Paris, and many other seminaries of learning, in dif- 
ferent parts of his extensive dominions, and did all in his pow- 
er to effect the revival of learning, but the cloud which over- 
spread the human intellect was too thick to be dispelled. 
The efforts of Charlemagne, and some other illustrious pa- 
trons of learning, had no great, extensive, or durable effect. 
And some men of genius and erudition, who, by their litera- 
ry acquirements, distinguished themselves in those dark 
ages, were only as transient meteors, whicli burst through the 



i^50 LETTERS Let. XX. 

universal gloom, and after glittering for a moment, soon disap- 
peared. Charlemagne did, perhaps, as much as could be 
done by one prince, in an age of such universal barbarism, 
towards effecting a revival of learning ; but the general cir- 
cumstances of Europe were such as counteracted his endea- 
vours, and prevented them from having any lasting eliect. 
The reign, ^therefore, of this prince was only a transient gleam 
of light; after which, the gloom which obscured tlie iitera'ry 
hemisphere, set in as thick as before. 

The state of the world, during the space of three centu- 
ries, had been singaiarly deplorable. Europe in a stale of 
anarchy aiad barbarism ; and the eastern empire alone exhib- 
iting the marks of civilized society, and for a while flourish- 
ing in power, but afterwards curtailed of half of its dominions, 
by the conquests of the Mahometan Caliphs. The four cen- 
tuiies which elapsed between the death of Theodosius the 
Great, and the reign of Charlemagne, may certainly be 
reckoned the most calamitous period in the history of man 
kind, and fatally distinguished by the greatest effusion of 
human blood, as well as by the most reniarkable rev- 
olution of power and property, which the annals of the 
world exhibit to the view of posleriiy. In the reign of 
Charlemagne the world had assumed a more settled and 
a more splendid aspect than it had done for a long time 
before. The whole known world, at that time, was divided 
between three great powers ; the eastern empire of Constaiir. 
tinople, the Caliphate, which, although at this time divided,. 
may from exact similarity of manners, religion and origin, b^ 
reckoned one people; and the western empire, established 
by Chariemagne. Of these three empires the Caliphate 
stood the highest in literary attainments ; and Constantino- 
ple, although much declined in that respect, since the days 
of Nazianzen and Ghrysostome, stiH held the second place 
in the literary scale, and only came one degree short of her 
Arabian neighbours. Europe was making some advances in 
the same route, which a combination of unfavourable circum- 
stances rendered abortive. Tiie poliiical and social circum- 
stances of Europe were such, as, at that time, counteracted 
every attempt for the restoration of learning, and the general 
state of the human mind, in that quarter of the globe, was 
such as baffled the efforts of some iiluBtrious individuals, who 
exerted themselves without effect^for that beneficial purpose. 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 251 

Within a century after the death of Charlemagne, Europe 
began to fall into the sairie state of political anarchy as be- 
fore his reign. That prince following the pernicious exam- 
ples of Constantine and Theodosifjs, in dividing the old Ro- 
man empire, made, in like manner, a partition of his new 
empire among his sons. Within lidie more than a century 
the family of diarlemagne had almost disappeared, and the 
nobles, who had been considerably restrained by the vigor- 
ous hand of that Emperor, began, under his weak successors, 
io render themselves almost independent of their sovereigns, 
and to oppress the people in the most tyrannical manner. 
Whatever the condition of the great body of the people had 
before been, it became now completely miserable. The 
feudal system was first completely established in France and 
Germany. Under the weak descendants of Charlemagne, 
the nobles of those countries assumed little less than sove- 
reign power, in their respective districts, and reduced the 
monarch to a m.ere pageant of state, leaving him the title alone 
of king, v/hile they themselves exercised an almost absolute 
authority over the people. It seems that the feudal system 
had, from time immemorial, existed in some degree among 
most of the nations of the north ; but as this, like every other 
political system, is susceptible of various modifications, it is 
impossible to know to what extent it was carried, under what 
regulations it existed, and what changes might take place in 
it, among a barbarous and unlettered people, during a long 
succession of ages. We are wholly unacquainted with the 
history of those nations until the time when they were brought 
into notice by their irruptions into the Roman empire; and 
then their social manners, and civil institutions, underwent a 
\ery considerable, although gradual, alteration from the adop- 
tion of Roman customs, Roman religion, and Roman ideas. 
These changes, however, v;ere slowly introduced, and the 
most prominent features of northeEU institutions, and of Gothic 
manners, long remai^ied. After the extinction of the race of 
Charlemagne, the feudal system arose to its greatest height. 
The usurpation of Hugh Capet rivetted its power in France, 
that prhice being obliged to grant, or confirm, every privi- 
lege the nobles claimed, or had already usurped. In Ger- 
many and Italy the case was perfectly similar. The nobles 
taking advantage of the weakness of the Emperors, and the 
contini?al differences between them and the Popes, rendered 



252 LETTERS Let. XX. 

themselves independent sovereigns, acknowledging onlj a no- 
minal allegiance to the Emperor, as their common head, whom 
thej opposed or obeyed, as it best suited their caprice or 
their interests. Many of the prelates of the empire adopted 
the same measures, and rendered themselves the sovereigns 
of their respective ^iioceses ; and some cities and towns act- 
ing on the same principles, rendered themselves independent 
republics. From these contests, and from this fluctuating 
state of the sovereign authority, the numeious small princi- 
palities of Italy originated. Hence also arose the present 
Germanic constitution, which consist of a number of eccle- 
siastical and temporal states, and sovereignties, individually 
independent, but united in a political confederacy under one 
common head. Such, with some trifling shades of difference, 
was the state of France, until the reign of Louis the Eleventh, 
who first broke the exorbitant power of the nobles; and 
whose measures were pursued, until their dangerous indepen- 
dence was annihilated, by the vigorous, although sanguinary, 
measures of Cai dina! Richelieu, in the middle of the seven- 
teenth century. In Poland the same system existed even in 
our days, in its full extent, and clothed in all its horrors, until 
a considerable part of its unhappy people were, in some de- 
gree, delivered from its horrors, and freed from its oppression, 
by what was most absurdly called, by some, the extinction of 
Polish liberty, by the three partitioning powers. Nothing, 
indeed, could be more absurd than to denominate that seizure 
and partition an extinction of liberty, because there is, no 
doubt, but those parts of Poland which fell under the do- 
minion of Austria, Russia, or Prussia, are happy in the en- 
joyment of a greater portion of liberty nnder those govern- 
ments, than under their own feudal system. 

If we contemplate the aspect of Europe, during the middle 
ages, we can hardly view a more disgusting picture. Kings, 
whose power was little more than nominal, and whose situa- 
tions were precarious and uncertain. Nobles continually at 
war with one another, or in rebellion against the sovereign. 
The people oppressed, attached to the soil, disposed of like 
cattle, and lying at the mercy of the great. The country 
every where crowded with castles, the nurseries of rebellion,, 
the dens of the lazy and profligate, the retreat of plunderers, 
and the seats of riot ,and debauchery. Let those who have 
perused the histories of the middle ages, say whether this be 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 253 

an exaggerated description; or rather let tbem say, whether 
it be possible to overcharge the picture, or to paint, in co- 
lours 100 glaring, ?he scenes of disorder which prevailed in 
those unhappy times, li does not appear, that the feudal 
system ever arose to that established independence on the 
C» own, in England, as in soine other countries ; but, in re- 
gard to the depression of the people, it was litde or nothing 
behind them ; and our his^o; ies iiiroroi us, that, at the com- 
mencement of Henry the Second's reign, there was niore 
than a thousand fortified castles in this cormtry. Let us, for 
a rao'ijent, compare the modern state of Europe with its state 
in the middle ages. It cannot be denied, that wars have 
been very frequent in modern tiQies. Perpetual peace is, 
perhaps, incompatible with the imperfect nature of man ; but 
the calamities of war are not the less to be deplored. In 
the modern system of Europe, however, the power of the 
sword is restrained to a small number of great potentates ; 
and the operations of war are carried on by an order of men, 
who devote themselves to the study and practice of the mili- 
tary art. Those places alone, where the theatie of war hap- 
pens to fall, experience its calamities, and even these are con- 
siderably softened by the humanity of modern warriors, 
when compared v/ith the horrid barbarities of ancient war- 
fare. The tranquillity of the other parts of the country re- 
mains undisturbed ; and the other orders of the community, 
who do not make the military life their profession, enjoy, in 
the midst of war, the calm security of peace. To the na- 
tions at large the calamities of war are chiefly perceptible in 
the increase of taxes, or the diminution of commerce. In 
the tenth and eleventh centuries, ?Siev the extensive empire 
of Charlemagne was broken into many independent and luis^ 
tile states, the regal title being assumed by the most povver- 
ful chiefs, their revolt was followed l>y a long siibordiualion 
of anarchy. The lord of each castle assumed the character 
of a sovereign, and disdaining the aiitijoiity of lav/s, reteried 
all to the decision of the sword. Every peasant Vr a:-; then a 
soldier, and every village a fortification ; c\ery field was 
tinged with blood, and every wood and valley exhlbiied 
scenes of murder and rapine. Such was the deplorable state 
of society, in this quarter of the globe, during the middle 
ages. Let then the inhabitants of modern Europe learn to 
set a just value on the tranquiliity and security they enjoyv 

y 



iJ54 LETTERS Let. XX. 

Let Englishmen in particular justlj appreciate their excellent 
constitution under which they enjoy not only a state of tran- 
quillily, but also a protection and security for their persons 
and property, unknown not only under the feudal system, 
but also under the boasted republican governments of Greece 
and Rome. 

While the political and social picture of Erirope was such 
as it is here delineated, the state of the Cahplrate did not 
afford a much more agreeable prospect. In the tenth cen- 
tury, the Empire of the Saracens being, like that of Charle- 
magne, broken, by the rcYoIt of faptiojus and ambitious chiefs, 
mtr. a number of independent states, at last had a fate not a 
little resembling that of the Roman empire of old ; for the 
Empire of the Mahometans Caliphs, at last, fell a prey to the 
Seijukian Turks, and other barbarous nations of the north of 
Asia, (who, in overturning its power, adopted its religion) in 
the same manner as that of Rome fell under the dominion of 
the northern nations of Europe, who, while they demolished 
the political fabric, embraced the religion of the RomaRS. 

The subversion of the Caliphate produced nearly the same 
wreck of Arabian learning, as the downfal of the Roman em- 
pire had done of the arts and literature of Rome. The nor- 
thern barbarians of Asia, like those of Europe, despising 
every embellishment of the mind, and every ptu'suit which 
tended to improve and enlighten the human understanding. 
The eastern empire was then the seat of all the learning which 
remained in the world; and Constantinople, the centre of all 
that was worthy of notice in literature, commerce, and the 
other arts and embellishments of civilized society ; and such 
it continued until nearly the time of its falling under the Otto- 
man do.'ninion. 

The political and social state of Europe remained without 
much alteration during several centuries, after the establish- 
ment of ihe piincipal kingdoms into which it was at last divi- 
ded, offering nolliing to the eye of contemplaticoi but such 
,sceiies as ail poiiticai histories affos-d, and agitated by such 
commotions aa commonly occur among nations only half civi- 
lized, and under such an unsettled system of government. A 
new and most romantic scene, howevei', began^to be display- 
ed about A. 1). 1096. In those age?, the fashion of making 
riil2;rima<i:es to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem: had become 
^0 pvev.JenI, tliat. about thirty years before, the archbishop 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 25^5 

of Mentz, with the bishop of Utrecht, Bamberg; and Rati*?- 
bon, and about seven thousand followers, had made tlie pil- 
grimage to Jerusalem, in order to offer their homage to the 
Redeemer of mankind, in those places which had been cvu- 
secrated by his presence and suiferings, while in the flesh. 
Under the polished empire of the Caliphs, those Christiari 
pilgrimages had been encouraged, and the persons and pro- 
perty of the pilgrims protected by their civilized and eqraia- 
ble government. Those Mahometan princes acting upon 
principles of sound policy, were not ignorant of the a(h yri- 
(ages accruing to their dominions, from such an aonou! con- 
course of strangers, many of whom were persons of liie first 
distinction. But the barbarians, who had overturned the 
Caliphate, not only oppressed the pilgrims with unreasonable 
imposhions, but frequently added insult to injustice. One 
Peter, a hermit, who had visited the holy seprticbre, being a 
man of a fiery and enthusiastic zeal, and incensed at the op- 
pressions, extortions, and insults, to which the pil^^iiins we^e 
exposed, undertook, at his return, to preach a ciuisade, tor 
the recovery of the Holy Land from the iiifidels. This en- 
thusiast succeeded so well, that the project was approved by 
the Pope ; and, as it was perfectly agreeable to the marliai 
and superstitious spirit of the age, the princes and nobles 
of Europe readily entered into the measure. 

The most romantic scene of rehgious enthusiasm, and mil- 
itary enterprise, now opened itself almost all over Europe, 
and continued, with souie intervals, during the space of al- 
most two hundred years, from the setting out of the first cru- 
sade A. D. 1095, to the loss of Acre, and all Palestine, A. 
D. 1291. The history of the crusades is not nnwoithy of 
perusal, as it exhibits the human mind wrought up to tlie 
highest dey-ree of extravagance, by religious and military en- 
thusiasm ; and paints, in the most striking colours, the diead- 
ful calamities which mistaken zeal is capable of iritliciing on 
the human race. The annals of the world scarcely furnish- 
ed any instances of the horrible effects of this religious fienzy, 
equal to the scenes exhibited in those contests between ihe 
Koran and the Cross ; especially at the sieges of Antioch, 
Jerusalem and Acre. Never did the flames of enthusiasm 
burn with more destructive fury, than in the sieges here 
mentioned, in which every act of the most daring and despe- 
rate valour was performed on both sides. Historians ditter 



256 LETTERS Let. XX. 

in their estimates of the loss of men, as thej always do in 
regard to such paiticulars ; but it is, however, certain, that 
lbo«e Ihiee memorable sieges stand fatally distinguished, by 
an obsliiiacj of contest, and of slaughter of the human 
species, horrid to contemplate. Indeed, those religious 
wars were carried on with the most lomantic spirit of despe- 
rale enterprijse that religious and military enthusiasm could 
I isDJrc. Imiuinerable armed hordes were collected out of 
En^'jiu\, Prance, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, &c. and 
i5}?plred by reiij?:ious frenzy, marched away to butcher the 
L'iiin.bil;ai''s of Sysia and Palestine. The princess Anne 
(■orjinenus, daughter of the Emperor Alexius Commenus, 
m fJesi:ril};.i|g (hose armed hordes of the western world, some 
01 \ lio ii she had seen at Constantinople, in their march to- 
wards Paiestiiie, sajR, that it seemed as if Europe had been 
torn fiom lis foundations and hurled upon Asia. Those tre- 
mendous efforts, however, were not attended with effects 
of such permanency as might have been expected from so 
extraordinary a scene of exertion. It was, indeed, somewhat 
remarkable, and, in such an age, and such circumstances, 
could not fail of being looked upon as a favourable omen, 
that, on Good Friday, about three in the afternoon, the day 
and hour of Christ's passion, Godfrey Earl of Bologne, af- 
ter a most desperate assault and wading through the blood of 
above seventy thousand Mahometans, stood victoj ious upon 
the walls of Jeru- alem. This memorable event happened A. D. 
1099, and Godfrey, as his valour deserved, wa^^, in an assem- 
bly of the ai'med chiefs, unanimously elected king of the ho- 
ly city, and its adjoining district. The short duration of 
this Ciiristian kingdom of Jerusalem, which was conquered 
by Saladin, A. J). 1 1 87, hov^'ever, furnished tolthe succeeding 
crusaders a proof that the unii ersal Parent, the God of peace 
and merc}^, does not look on the blood of human victims as 
an acceptable odering. 

One of the most remarkable events which occurred in the 
course of those nominally religious, but in reality, romantic 
wars, was the capture of the city of Constantinople by the 
Latins, by which the eastern eiitpire fell under the dominion 
of a band of enterprising and determined Italian, French and 
Flemish adventurers. 

The Emperor, Isaac Angelus, having been deposed, and 
deprived of sightj by his inhuman brother, his son Alexius, 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. tot 

who was only a youth, made his escape into lialy, and met 
with a number of the barons of France and Flanders, who 
were on one of these crusading enterprises, and were come to 
Venice, at that time the greatest maritime state in Europe, 
where they had contracted with the repiiblic for the ships 
necessary to facilitate the execution of their plan. The 
young Alexius entered into a negociation with the Fiench 
and Venetians, and a treaty was concluded, whereby they 
engaged to restore his father to the imperial throne of ihe 
east ; and he, ©n his part engaged to unite the Greek to the 
Latin church. The French and Venetians, therefore, chang- 
ing the destination of their armament, which, at first, had 
been against the coasts of Syria and Egypt, sailed up the 
Hellespont to Constantinople, broke the chain of the harbour 
and assaulted the city from the harbour and the land side. 
The assailants being almost ready to enter, the usurper, Alex- 
ius, made his escape, Isaac Angelus, and his son the young 
Alexius, were proclaimed joint Emperors ; in consequence of 
"tyhich arrangeoient a cessation of arms immediately took 
place; but as soon as the clergy, especially the monks, un- 
derstood the terms of tjie treaty concluded by young Alexi- 
us, they reprobated the idea of an union with (he see of 
Rome, and excited the people to fly to arms. The general 
insurrection was also fomented by Alexius Mourzouste, of 
the family of Ducas, who assumed the purple, imprisoned 
tlie blind Emperor Isaac, and put young Alexius to deaths 
The legal succession of the Greek empire being Ihiis over- 
turned, the French and Venetians recommenced the war. 
After a siege of more than three months, they assaulted the 
city from the harbour, and, in spite of the superiority of 
numbers, carried it by storm, A. D. 1204, about eight hun- 
dred and eighty years after its foundation by Constantine. 
The city being given up to pillage by the Latins, the plun- 
der was valued at 40^,000 marks, nearly e€|uivalent to 
800,000L sterling, an enormous sum, exceeding thequaditf- 
ple amount of the public annual revenue of any nation in Eu- 
rope at that time. This immense mass of plundered wealth 
was esteemed the greatest ever found in any captured city 
previous to that period ; and, as Villehardouin, a knight of 
Champaigne, says, in his narrative of this transaction — 
** Those indigent strangers were converted into opulent citi- 
zens." Baldwin also, in his epistle to Pope Innocent the 

Y2 



258 LETTERS Let. XX, 

Third, sajs, that " such a booty was never found in any ci- 
tj." The seciet plunder, however, was supposed to exceed 
what was produced in public, notwithstanding the penalties 
of encommunication, and even of death, denounced against 
any who should secrete any part of the spoil. In the public 
distribution one share was allotted to every foot soldier, two 
shares to an horseman, four shares to every knight, and to 
the barons and princes more, in proportion to their rank. 
Boniface, Marquis of Monfserrat, had the kingdom of Mace- 
donia for his share, in the territorial division. Henry Don- 
do!o. Doge of Venice, was commander of the Venetians ; 
and, noivvithslanding his blindness and extreme old age, be- 
ing between eighty and ninety, was one of the first who 
mounted the walls in the general assault. The Venetians 
had, for their^ territorial share, the greatest part of the sea 
coasts, together with three of the eight quarteis of the city 
of Constantinople. Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, was elected 
Emperor, with one fourth part of the empire for his share. 
The rest of the empire was divided into fiefs, among the ba- 
rons and knights, according to the feudal system then prevail- 
ing in the western countries of Europe, which were held by 
feudal tenure under the Emperor. 

Constantinople is supposed. By Villehardouin, to have, at 
tint time, contained four hundred thousand effective men. 
This, however, must be regarded as an improbable and ab- 
surd exaggeiatioDjandTiom the appearance of general existing 
circumsfances, an absolute impossibility. By M. Le Beau's 
Histoire du has Empire, that metropolis is supposed to have 
contained at the time of its capture by the Latins, about one 
million, and at present about four hundred thousand inhabi- 
tants, a far more probable computation than those of many 
modern geographers, who estimate their number at eight 
hundred thousand, or even at upwards of a million. 

The Greeks, after this disaster, established independent 
states at Nice, Trebisond and Eoirus. The Latins were not 

a. 

p?'ospcrous in the affairs of their newly acquired empire. 
The dissensions which prevailed among the barons, laid 
their dominions open to the attacks of the Greeks, who contin- 
siaily gahied ground on them. The Bulgarians revolted, and 
the Emperor Baldwin, of Flanders, being defeated and taken 
prisoner by them, died in captivity, and was succeeded by 
his brother Henry, A. D. 1206. Boniface, Marquis of Mont- 
serrat, fell by the arms of the Bulgarians the same year. 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 259 

Henry of Flanders, is represented as a wise and valiant 
prince, equally qualified for the duties of peace and war. He 
was also a monarch of liberal sentiments, and tolerant prin- 
ciples, and checked the proceedings of the Pope's legate in 
the persecution of the Greek schismatics. After his death, 
A. D 1216, the Latin empire of Constantinople continually 
declined, and so pressing were the exigencies of the state, 
that Baldwin H. the last emperor of the Latin dynasty, 
pledged the crown of thorns, supposed or pretended to have 
been worn by Christ, to the Venetians, from whom it was re- 
deemed by Si. Louis, King of France, who also purchased of 
Baldwin a portion of the cross, the lance with which the side 
of Christ was pierced, the rod of Moses, and other relics of 
great esteem in that age, and deposited them in the holy 
chapel at Paris, A. D. 1225. The Greeks of Asia continu-^ 
ally gaining ground, at last Michael Paleologus, having usurp- 
ed the Greek empire of Nice, his general, Alexius Strate- 
gopulus, with an inconsiderable force, surprised and reco- 
vered Constantinople, A. D. 1261, and thus, after a period 
of fifty-seven j^ears, that metropolis returned under the do- 
minion of the Greeks ; but a considerable part of the city 
had been destroyed in the three dreadful conflagrations, 
which happened at the time of the siege and capture by the 
Latins, and Constaiatinople never more regained its ancient 
splendor, nor the eastern empire its former power and great- 



ness. 



The history of the crusades, although it exhibits a lament- 
able scene of enthusiasm and slaughter of the human species, 
displays also a considerable advancement of European know- 
ledge. Jn consequence of those destructive wars, which car- 
ried such numbers of Europeans to perish in Palestine, the 
inhabitants of the western countries acquired a greater know- 
ledge of many parts of the east, and especially of the Greek, 
or Constantinopolitan empire, than they had before possessed. 
The geographical knowledge of the Europeans was improv- 
ed and extended, the sphere of European politics was en- 
larged, and the rudiments of several arts and sciences were 
introduced into the western countries; among which, wind- 
mills may be reckoned, which, before the crusades, were un- 
known in Europe. But one of the most important effects of 
the crusades was the diminution of the number and power 
^f the factious nobles^ which contributed greatly to the ex- 



260 LETTERS Let. XX. 

linction of the feudal system. Many of the nobles, in order 
to procure money for those religious expeditions, disposed 
of their estates ; and many petty princes sold their principal- 
ities to their sovereigns, as Robert Duke of Normandy, sold 
that duchy to his brother, W. Rufus, by which it was an- 
nexed to the crown of England. Those sales threw many 
of the greater fiefs into the immediate power of the crown. 
Many also of the factious nobles were cut off in those ro- 
mantic expeditions ; and many of them dying without issue, 
their fiefs devolved on the crown. In fine, it is certain, that 
the crusades contributed in no small degree to weaken and 
overthrow the feudal system, and that after the frenzy of cru- 
sading had subsided, Europe soon began to wear a more 
agreeable aspect. The power of the sovereigns began to ac- 
quire more stability, and laws were made more favourable to 
the people. The princes of Europe, knowing their own in- 
terests, invariably pursued the measure of lessening the dan- 
gerous power of the nobles, and raising the commons to a 
degree of importance in the political scale. Of all the steps 
taken by the European princes, for the accomplishment of 
this great purpose, none was more eSectual than that of grant- 
ing charters and privileges to cities and towns, whereby their 
inhabitants were freed from feudal bondage, which led by 
degrees, to the emancipation of the whole mass of the people. 
The abohtion of the feudal system was, however, a work of 
time, and was not effected until after the lapse of some centu- 
ries. Its progress was gradual, and notwithstanding the suc- 
cessive elForts of many of the princes of Europe, the work 
could not have been effected without the improvement of 
civilization, and the extention of commerce. The privileges 
of the chartered towns enabled their inhabitants to extend 
their trade, and to explore different channels of acquisition ; 
and by those means the wealth and consequence of the com- 
mons increased. The peasants, instead of paying their rents 
in kind, began to be in a condition to pay them in money, 
and the lords soon found such payments more commodious 
than payments in produce, which were so difficult to dispose 
of to advantage. This mode of receiving their rents in mo-' 
ney, in lieu of produce and feudal servitude, enabled the no- 
bles to live more commodiously, more comfortably, and more 
elegantly ; and at the same time rendered the people more 
independent of the barons? and consequently the more im- 






Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 261 

mediately dependant on the crown. In effect, the abolition of 
the feudal system was, every circumstance considered, con- 
ducive to the real interests and advantage of both the aristo- 
cratic and democratic orders, as well as to those of the crown. 
The system, however, was not abolished in the different 
countries in Enrope at the same time. It existed in Hungary 
So late as A. D. 1785, aUhoiigh the illustrious Maria The- 
resa had put it under the most equitable and humane regu- 
lations by her urbariurn, A. D. 1764: its total abolition was 
only eifected by that sagacio'js and humane monarcli, Joseph 
II. in Hungary, the year before mentioned, and A. D. 1781^ 
in Bohemia. It still existed In a mitigated form in Poland and 
Russia, although the immortal Catharine 11. whose memoryj 
her wise laws and regulations, and her unremitting exertions 
for the improvement of her euipire, and the happiness of her 
subjects, render dear to posterity, had done as much as 
could be done, in the space of one reign, for establishing 
equal freedom among her subjects. And there is no reason 
to doubt but it will be abolished in every part of Europe, in 
proportion as it becomes more extended, and civilization 
gains ground. The progress of moral and political happiness 
has always been, and like every other human improvement, 
must be gradual. Civilization leads to liberty, and liberty 
encourages and advances the arts of civilized life. Their ef- 
fects are reciprocal. But until the people are somewhat civ- 
ilized and enlightened, they are unqualified for the enjoyment 
of freedom ; it would even be dangerous to confer it upon 
them. 

From all that has been said concerning the disorders pre- 
valent under the feudal system, it is not, hoAvever, to be in- 
ferred, that men were more depraved in former times than 
at pi'esent, or that ihe feudal Lords delighted in tyrannizing 
over the people. Human nature is always the same. The 
variation of circumstances alone causes the variation of man- 
ners, ideas, and modes of society. Many of the ancient no- 
bles of Europe were men of as great virtues as those of the 
present day ; but the circumstances of the times were un- 
favourable. Many of the English barons, from whom our pre- 
sent illustrious nobility are descended, were, in their day, an 
honour to the nation and to humanity, and not less distin- 
guished for their other virtues, than for their courage and 
bravery. Of their piety and puljlic spirit innumerable mon* 



^^^2 LETTERS Let. XX, 

uments yet exist. The disorders of those ages arose from 
the unsettled system of society, and the circumstances of the 
times. The feudal system was, perhaps, as well adapted to 
existing circumstances as any other could have been, at a 
time when the barbarous and unlettered people required a 
restraining hand, in almost every village. This system was 
also almost a necessary consequence of the scarcity of spe- 
cie, and the impossibility of paying rents otherwise than in pro- 
duce. As soon as commerce began to flourish, and wealth was 
increased, this necessity no longer existed ; and the regula- 
tions it had produced soon began to disappear. The pea- 
sants being, by the diifusion of commerce and wealth, put in a 
condition to pay their rents in money, the Lords were 
sensible of the benefits of the change, and made no efforts 
to retain that power over the people, which they perceived 
to be no longer necessary or useful ; and, at this day, nobi- 
lity of this and other countries, where the feudal system is 
abolished, are too much enlightened to regret its extinc- 
tion. 

From the reign of Charlemagne, the ecclesiastical, as well 
as the political and social history of Europe, takes its colour 
from the circumstances of tiie times ; and until ihe reforma- 
tion, exhibits scarcely any thing of moment but the gradual 
elevation of the church ; which, like the feudal system, may 
be esteemed a natural consequence of the circumstances of 
the times, and the state of the human mind in those ages. It 
is to be observed, that of the different northern nations, which 
established themselves upon the ruins of the Roman empire, 
some were Pagans, and those, which had previously embraced 
the Christian religion, had very obscure notions of its doc- 
trines. They were besides almost entirely illiterate, and 
unqualified for the arts of peace and the management of re- 
gular government. The clergy were almost the only per- 
sons qualified to preside in courts of judicature, or to compose 
the cabinet councils of princes : so that Europe may be said 
to have received her religion, her learning, and her laws, froi-n 
the clergy of Rome. These circumstances gave to this order 
of men an extraordinary influence, which they well knew how 
to iniprove. The elevation of Charlemagne to the imperial 
dignity gave a great accession of power to the church. As 
that prince received the imperial title and diadem through 
the influence of the bishop of Rome, he thought it his inter- 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 263 

est to augment, as much as possible, the influence and pow- 
er of that see. In the times of anarchy and discord, which 
followed the dismemberment of Chariemagne^s empire, the 
prelates of the church did not anv more than the temporal 
loids, lose any opportunity of aggrandizing themselves amidst 
the universal tumult. 

The struggles for power among ecclesiastics, like all other 
contests of a similar nature among the rest of mankind, gave 
rise to such a variety of jarring interests, as produced dan- 
gerous schisms in the church. The contest concerning ima- 
ges had left animosities between the eastern and western 
churches, which ought never to subsist among Christiaas. 
Photius, archbishop of Constantinople, a man of extraordinary 
abilities and intense application, and distinguished by his vo- 
luminous writings and extensive erudition, was a declared 
enemy to the see of Rome, and determined to break off all 
connection and communion with the Lafin church. He filled 
the archiepiscopal chair of Constantinople, the space of twen- 
ty-nine years, from A. D. 857 to A. D. 886 ; during which pe- 
riod, he and the Pope reciprocally fulminated their excommu- 
nications and anathemas against each other. After the death 
of Photius, a sort of compromise seems to have taken place 
between the Greek and Latin churches ; but, A. D. 1054, 
the Pope's legates excommunicated the patriarch, and the 
whole church of Constantinople. Those mutual anathemas 
were certainly inconsistent with the spirit of genuine Christiani- 
ty, and with that unirersal benevolence preached and practised 
by Jesus Christ, who came upon earth to bless, and not to curse 
mankind. In the latter part of the thirteenth century, the 
Emperor, Michael Paleologus, in order to avert a crusade 
which the jjatins were meditating against Constantinople, ne- 
gociated with the Pope, and concluded a concordat between 
the Greek and Latin churches ; but at his death, A. D. 
1282, the union was immediatel}'^ dissolved. The Emperor, 
Manuel Paleologus, seeing the empire hard pressed on every 
side by the Turks, visited London and Paris, A. I). 1400, 
in the reign of Henry IV. of England, and of Charles VI. of 
France, in order to procure som^ assistance, but the circum- 
stances of those countries did not permit them to send forces 
to the support of the eastern empire. This prince also en- 
deavoured to negociate an union with the Latin church, but the 
negociation broke off. John Paleologus, his son aijd succes- 



264 LETTERS Let. XX. 

sor, however, concluded a treaty of peace, at Florence, with 
Pope Eugenius iV. but it was universallj reprobaled by 
the whole body of the monks and clergy of Constantinople. 
During the space of almost six centuries, from the time of 
the patriarch Photius, to the extinction of the Greek empire, 
an inveterate enmity seems to have existed among the clergy 
and people of Constantinople against the Latin church. 
Whenever a transient reconciliation took place, it was only 
dissembled, and was always brought about by the imperial 
court with a view to obtain succours from the western na- 
tions, when under the apprehension of danger, John Paleolo- 
gus had, before his death, renounced the union which he had 
made with the Latin church, and which he saw so much ab- 
horred by his people. It was, however, acceded to by Con- 
stantine, his son and successor, upon the near prospect of be- 
ing besieged in his capital by the Turks. A Cardinal legate, 
from Rome, was admitted at Constantinople ; but after he 
had officiated in the cathedral of St. Sophia, the clergy 
abandoned the church, as a polluted structure ; and Phranza 
confesses, that the Emperor himself, with the few who had 
signed the treaty of union with the Latin church, were not 
sincere, and that the monks, clergy, and the whole citj of 
Constantinople displayed every extreme of fanaticism and 
aversion against the Latin church. 

This irreconcilable aversion and schism, between the 
Greek and Latin churches, is, by different writers, attributed 
to different causes ; by some it is supposed to have been a 
necessary consequence of the division of the empire and the 
diversity or language. The diversity of language cannot, 
however, be supposed necessarily to tend to a ditference of 
religion, nor is any such supposition corroborated by expe- 
rience. The different languages of the European nations, 
which composed the Latin church, never produced any dif- 
ference in their religious teiiets. They long remained unit- 
ed under the see of Rome, and diversity of languages was not 
in the least accessary towards bringing about the reformation. 
The division of the empire may, perhaps, be reckoned one of 
the remote causes of the separation of the Greek and Latin 
churches. The division of Europe into so many different 
kingdoms and states, was not, however, productive of any 
such effect, they all unanimously submitted to the dictates of 
their holy mother, the church ; but the subjection to the 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 265 

spi! itual authority of the Roman Pontiff was almost coeval 
■with their first establishment, and they, therefore, vviMingly 
subaiitted to it. This supremacy of the bishops of Rome, 
the Greek church looked upon as an usurpation, and could 
never willingly, or sincerely, submit to it. At the very 
first establishment of Christianity the seat of empire was re- 
itioved from Rome, and Constantinople was made the capital. 
It was not, therefore, likely that the patriarchs of that metro- 
polis would long submit to the authority of the bishop of 
Rome, a city which had long been in the hands of those whom 
the people of Constantinople denominated barbarians. Thei e 
is no doubt, circumstances well considered, but the people 
of the eastern empire thought, that if a visible head of the 
church was necessary, the patriarch of Constantinople had a 
better claim to the title and office than the bishop of Rome; 
and, therefore, it is no wonder that the archbishops and clergy 
of Constantinople should rather chuse to renounce all com- 
munion with the Latin church, than submit to the supreme 
authority of the see of Rome. This v/as the real fundamen- 
tal cause of the schism between the Greek and Latin churches : 
the differences relative to certain subordinate doctrines, insti- 
tutions of discipline, and theological questions, serving only as 
incentives to blow up the flames of discord, and to v/iden the 
breach. 

In the bosom of the Latin church itself, ecclesiastical dis- 
cord had nearly produced the same effects. During the long 
period of forty years, from A. D. 1378, to A. D. 1418, two 
Papal sees existed, the one at Rome, and the other mostly 
at Avignon ; France, Savoy, Sicily, Arragon, Castile, Na- 
varre, and Scotland, adhered to the see of Avignon: Italy, 
Germany, Portugal, England, the Netherlands, and the king- 
doms of the North, adhered to the see of Rome. This 
dangerous schism wbj^ terminated by the deposition or resigna- 
tion of the two Antipopes, and the election of Martin Y. to 
the united pontificate, at the council of Constance, A. D. 
1418. 

The exorbitant elevation of (he church was a natural con- 
sequence of the circumstances of the middle a$:^es. In this 
enlightened age nothing can appear more shocking, or mor^ 
abhorrent, from the universal feelings of human nature, than 
this spiritual usurpation ; but if we dispassionately consider 
the circumstances of the times, and the state of the human 

Z 



266 LETTERS Let. XX. 

mind, in the ages we are now contemplating, it will be found 
pot only consistent with the condition of mankind, through- 
out the Christian world at that time, but also, perhaps bet? 
ter adapted to the then existing circumstances of Europe, 
than we are, upon a superticial view, inclined to imagine. 
For the general benefit of society, a very extensive power 
must be lodged in the hands of some of its members ; and if 
we consider how few, in those dark ages, were endowed 
with abilities and learning requisite for conducting the great 
affairs of human society, we must allow, that the clergy were 
the persons best qualified for that important undertaking. 
This could not fail of giving an extraordinary influence and 
poner 1o that order; and it is not the nature of man, lightly 
to castaway that power which he «ees naturally thrown into 
his hands. Whatever we may think at this day, when the 
circumstances of Europe have experienced so happy a 
change, if we contemplate, without passion or prejudice, the 
times of ignorance and barbarism, which, during the space of 
seven or €ight centuries after t^he subversion of the Roman 
empire, overspread the face of Europe ; perhaps it might be 
conducive to the benefits and tranquiihty of societj', that, in 
those times of tumult and anarchy, so great a portion of pow- 
ej- fell into the hands of an order of men, to whom the sacred 
name and authority of religion insured the veneration and 
obedience of a turbulent, but superstitious people ; perhaps 
it miaht even have been necessary to the existence of Chris- 
tianily, during so many ages of barbarism and unlettered ig- 
norance. The counsels of Divine Providence are unsearch- 
able, and tar above our comprehension ; but whatever dis- 
orders may, to our short-sighted capacities seem to prevail in 
the divine go^ ernment of the moial, as well as physical world, 
there i^ no doafot but all the eieiits coincide with perfect 
hai'mony in the universal plan. 

After the enthusiasm of the crussdes had at last subsided, 
Europe began to put on a more settled and less romantic ap- 
pearance. Learniiig began to m/ake a gradual, but slow ad- 
>^inrement. T])e sciences began also to make some small 
i nprovecsent. Some men of extraordinary genius and eru- 
dition appeared at dilf<3rent intervals, and shone with a daz- 
F^'na; lustre, amidst the gloomy darkness of those ages. 
Among these, the illustrious friar, Roger Bacon, was an honour 
at once to the English natioja, and to the i^^iversity of Paris, 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 267 

where he completed his studies. Peter Lambert, Abelard, 
and other men of extensive erudition, were at different pe- 
riods the ornaments of that university, which sseefos to have 
been, in those ages, the principal seminary and centre of Eu- 
ropean learning. But it was long before the efforts of those 
learned individuals produced any material change in the lit- 
erary aspect of Europe. The condensed gloom was not sud- 
denly to be dispelled. 

During the long period of darkness which obscured Eu- 
rope, and, afler the extinction of the Caliphate, overspread 
in like manner the countries which had formed that empire, 
Constantinople, although continually declining, was the poiiit 
where the learning and science of the world was chiefly con- 
centrated. The tenth century, which, in the western coun- 
tries, was one of the darkest periods of Gothic ignorance, 
constituted the most flourisliing a^ra of the Byzantine learn- 
ing, under the reigns of Leo, the philosopi^er, and his son 
Constantine Porphyrogenilus. The former compiled an 
elaborate treatise of tactics, and the latter a very extensive 
and particular description of ihe empire, in regard to its geo- 
graphical and political state, the ceremonial of the court, and 
every other minute particular. In this admin istr at io imperii 
of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, we find the first mention of 
the Russians that is any where met wifh in history. The 
Russian empire then extended from the Euxine to the Baltic; 
Kiow in the Ukraine, and Novogorod in the North, were 
the capitals of the empire, and the two centres of its co.n- 
merce. It was then powerful and flourishing, but altet- 
wards fell under the dominion of the Taiiars, an e\ent 
which totally eclipsed its greatness. It is to be obsei ved, 
that the Russians embraced Christianity about A. Y). 988, in 
the reign of the great Duke Wolodomir ; and as \hey had 
their religion from Constantinople, and not from Roaje, like 
the nations of western Europe, they never sub/intted to ihe 
papal authority, nor were united in communion with llie La- 
tin church. In the reign of this great Duke Wolodoaiir, a 
body of Russian adventurers entered into the service of tlie 
Greek Emperor, and were employed as body guards, under 
the name of Varangians. And it is a curious circumstance, 
and not unworthy the notice of those who delight in conlem- 
plating the migrations of men, and the vicissitudes of fortune, 
that a body of English, who fled from this kingdom at ihe- 



/ 268 LETTERS Let. XX| 

tirae of fhe Norman conquest, also entered into the service 
of the Byzantine empire. How long these two militarj 
»:orps of Russians and English subsisted in the Greek em- 
pire is not knovi^n, but they both acted a conspicuous part 
in the famous battle of Durazzo, when the Einperor Alexius 
Comoienus was defeated by Robert Guischard, the Norman, 
Duke of Apulcia, A. IL 1081. 

The repeated eftbrts of hidividuals of consummate erudi- 
tion and genius, v» ho from time to time cast a gleam of light 
over the gloosny ignorance of Europe, began at last to dispel 
the cloud which had so long obscured the literary hemisphere. 
Those iilustrious, men who had, by their laborious studies, 
endeavoured to dissipate the ignorance of the times, had all 
arisen, almost without exception, amongst the clergy, especial- 
ly the monks, who in their cloistered retreats enjoyed a leis- 
ure, which the anarchy, mostly reigning in the middle ages, 
had generally denied to ihe secular clergy. But, as govern* 
ment began to be somewhat more settled, and the habits of 
civilized life began gradually to gain ground, the successive 
and multiplied elForts of the promoters of learning began to be 
successful. A number of favourable circumstances began to 
concur towards giving a different turn to the manners and taste 
of Europe. Constantinople had, during the long period of Eu- 
ropean barbarism, been not only the seat of learning, but of 
wealth, commerce, and splendor. The Crusaders who 
vi' Ued that metropolis were astonished at its riches, magnifi- 
cence, trade, and pop'Jiation, which could not fail of appear- 
ing to them in a striking point of view, when compared with 
the mean appearance of London, Paris, a^id other European 
capitals, of which the streets, in those times, were narrow, 
crooked, and irregular ; and the houses,, except those of some 
principal grandees, univ^ersaliy built of wood, and chimnies 
entirely unknown, as that useful part of architecture was not 
yet introduced into the houses of London so late as A. Db^ 
1 160. During the middle ages, the stone-built castles of the 
great barons and princes were nothing more than huge, ir- 
regular and gloomy piles, calculated rather for defence, than 
for ornament or conveniency. The age of the crusaders, how- 
ever, or that immediately succeeding, seems to have intro- 
duced a new and more magnificent taste in European archi- 
tecture, as may be observed in our ancient cathedrals. The 
mode of architecture then introduced, which seems far too 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 26{J 

heavy and gloomy for the construction of palaces, appears 
peculiarly adapted to that of the temples of religion; for, 
notwithstanding its gloomy cast, it is not only calculated for 
strength and duration, but has an air of solemn magnificence, 
tending more to inspire the mind with a religious awe than 
the most elegant orders of Grecian architecture ; and it may 
be looked on as particularly characteristic of the genius of 
the people of the middle ages, which was gloomy, bold and 
romantic. Constantinople had ail along maintained a degree 
of splendor, far surpassing any thing seen in the half-civilized 
countries of Europe, The imperial palace was, during ele- 
ven centuries, the admiration of all travellers who visited the 
east. It stood between the Hyppodrome and the church of 
St. Sophia; and its superb gardens descended by several 
rows of terraces to the shore of the Propontis. The primi- 
tive edifice erected by Constantine was made to rival the im- 
perial residence of ancient Rome, which was built upon the 
Palatine Mount; and the improvements made by his succes- 
sors still added to its magniiiGence. In the tenth century, 
Luitprond, bishop of Cremona, ambassador from the Empe- 
ror Otho, to Nicephorus Phceas, thus speaks of it — " The im- 
perial palace of Constantinople excels, not only in beauty 
and magnificence, but also in strength, all the palaces and 
castles I have ever seen." After that ffira the emperors of 
the Comnenian dynasty still continued to embellish it, so that 
it is not to be wondered at that we-find such encomiurxis of it 
in the writings of those who visited it in those ages. After 
tlie liafia conquest, the pillage of the city, and the conSagra- 
tions which took place at that disastrous period, Constanti- 
nople never more recoveied its former splendor : and the 
power of the empire as well as the brliiiancy and opulence of 
the capital, rapidly declined. 

During the declining ages of the eastern, or Byzantlfie 
empire, while ignorance, barbarism, superstition, and feudal- 
anarchy prevailed in the western countries of Eorope, al- 
most every part of Asia was agitated with extraordinary 
convulsions ; of which the effects weie felt in the remotest 
parts of that extensive continent. The history of those na- 
tions, or tribes, who inhabited the vast regions of the north 
of Asia, is very little known ; and notwithstanding the labo- 
rious investigations of some learned modern historians, noth- 
ing of an authentic nature, relative to the subject, caii be 

Z 2 



270 LETTERS Let. XX. 

discovereti, except a very few striking outlines, formed by 
those extraordinary emigrations and conquests which have 
pioduced important revolutions in the more southern coun- 
tries, of which the history is somewhat better known. The 
ancients comprehended those immense regions which extend- 
ed over the north of Asia, and part of the north of Europe, 
from that part of 4he Paciiic Ocean, called by our nioderg 
discoverers, the northern Archipelago, as far westward as 
the Baltic sea ; and from the Euxine and Caspian seas, and 
the frontiers of Persia, India, and China, a« far as the utter- 
most habitable Units of the north, were by the ancients 
comprehended under the general denomination of Scythia, 
and the inhabitants of all tliose countries were designated by 
the appellation of Scythians. The Russians, who, ever 
sini e the ninth or even the fifth century, in which the cities 
of Kiof, in the Ukraine, and Novogorod were founded, have 
been making a gradual, and in those latter times, a rapid and 
extraordinary progress in civilization, are of a Scythian ori- 
ginal ; and their empire now extends over the greatest part of 
the ancient Scytliia; the diiFerent nations and tribes of which 
they have united in one vast pohtical i^ystem. Of the an- 
cient state of those extensive coimtries, of the original, the 
migrations, intermixtures, wars, and revolutions, which have 
taken place among those numerous and wandering tribes, for- 
meri)' comprised nnder the general denomination of Scythi- 
ans, and in latter tiaies known by the appellation of Tartars, 
we know little or nothing, history furnishing no authentic 
documents relative to their ailairs. At certain periods their 
eaiigraiions and conquests have made a conspicuous figure in 
the political history of mankind, and produced revolutions, 
of which the effects have been extensive and permanent. 
The Turks, who made so distinguished a figure in the fif- 
teenth, Bixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, and whose em- 
pire is yet so rich, extensive and populous, are originally^ 
Tartar tribe ; as are also the Moguls or Moors of India. 

The most memorable occurrence in the history of the 
ancient Scythians, which has come to the knowledge of pos- 
terity, is the grand expedition of that people into the south- 
ern countries, which, according to the computations of the 
best historians, happened in the reign of Josiah, king of Ju- 
dah. The true time of this great emigration and conquest 
caanotj however, be ascertained, no mor^ than the extent to 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 2ri 

which those mvaders carried their conquests. It is, indeed, 
generally asserted, that they ruled over Asia Minor during 
the space of twenty -eight years, and oppressed exceeding- 
ly the Medes and Babylonians, Although it be a fact of in- 
dubitable authenticity, that this great Scythian expedition 
and conquest did take place, the particular circumstances at- 
tending it are totally unknown. If, however, it be true, that 
the power of the Scythians expired about a year or two be- 
fore the commencement of Nebuchadnezzar's reign in Ba- 
bylon, it is not an improbable conjecture of Sir W. Raleigh, 
that, after their power was broken, and many of them re- 
turned into their native re dons in the north, several of their 
warhke bands entered into tlie service of that prince, and con- 
tributed considerably to that career of victory a'^id siiccess 
by which he carried the powei and grandeur of the Babylo- 
nian empii-e to such an un|»re( edented height. This opin- 
ion is also coiToborated by the scriptural expressions of the 
nations of the north, followiag the slariJard of Nebuchadnez- 
zar, which cannot with propriety be understood of the Ba- 
bylonians, Assyrians, or other native subjects of that mon- 
arch. 

The most remarkable periods of the history of the Tartars, 
descendarits of the ancient Scythians, are those which are 
distinv;i5ished by the conquests of Zinghis Khan, and his 
successors, in the thirteenth ; and by those of Taaierlane 
in the laiter end of the fourteenth and the commencement of 
the fifteenth century. Zinghis Khan began his career of 
conquest A. D. 1206, and having conquered part of China, 
Persia, &c. died A. D. 1*227. His successors, during the 
period which elapsed from that tiaie to A. D. 1272, con- 
quered all China, Persia, Asia Minor, the kingdoms into 
w hich the empire of the Caliphs was broken, Russia, Poland 
and Hungary ; and penetrated as far as Neustad, in Austria, 
wliich was the hmit of their conquests westward. Tamer- 
lane, who, like Zinghas Khan, was of the Mogul tribe, the 
most enterprising and celebrated of the Tartar nations, be- 
gan his reign about A. D. 1370, and died at the age of 
about sixty-three, A. D. 1405 ; during which period he 
conquered Persia, Turkestan, the greatest part of Russia, a 
great part of Hindostan, and Syria; sacked Aleppo, Bag- 
datl, and Damascus ; conquered Asia Minor, and took Baja- 
zet. Emperor of the Turks, prisoner at the battle of An^o* 



/2r2 LETTERS Let. XX. 

ra ; after which he returned to Samarchand, the capital of 
his empire, and having projected an expedition against Chi- 
na, died on his march towards that country. 

Thus it appears, that the northern invaders have been as 
troublesome in Asia as in Europe, and have produced re- 
volutions equally great in themselves, although not equally 
striking to us, by reason of the little knowledge we have of 
the nations which were agitated by those bloody commo- 
tions, which totally changed the face of Asia ; and are par- 
ticularly remarkable on account of their having overturned 
the ancient Hindoo empire in India, and rendered that cele- 
brated country, ever since that period, a theatre of anarchy. 

The empire of the Mogul Tartars, it is certain flourished 
exceedingly during two centuries. In the time of Tamer- 
lane, Samarchand was the capital; but it is not well known 
where the seat of the empire was fixed in the reigns of Zing- 
his and his successors. Many conjectures have been form- 
ed on the subject, hut without grounds sufficient to stamp 
upon them any higher marks of authority, than mere conjec- 
ture. The opinion of Mr. Pallas, who, from the rich bury- 
ing places, supposes the principal seat of the Mogul, or Tar- 
tar empire, to have been between the rivers Yaik and Irtish, 
to the southward of Tobolski, seems to be the best founded ; 
the most valuable tombs have been found in that district ; 
and the learned Mr. Muller, of the academy of Moscow, is 
of the same opinion. It is however extremely little that we 
know of ilie history of those nations. We have in general 
terms, been informed of their most remarkable emigrations 
and conquests, and of tlia effects tliey have produced ; but 
any farther particulars are mere conjecture. Indeed, when 
Vie cast our eyes on the conlinent of Asia, and contemplate 
the ancient, rich, and extensive nations in the eastern parts, 
we are surprised that our historical knov/ledge should hardly 
reach farther than the banks of the Tigris. Such, however, is 
the case. A line of total and perpetual separations seems to 
have been drawn between the eastern and western parts of Asia. 
Our histories make no mention of the affairs of the Indians, or 
the Chines^e ; nor afford us any knowledge of what passed in 
those oriental nations, whose religious and social ideas and 
institutions are for the most part as different from those of 
the western nations, both ancient and modern, as if a total 
disruption of human opinions, and modes of thinking, had 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. SfS 

taken place between the eastern and western parts of this 
continent ; and until the discovery of the passage round the 
Cape of Good Hope, the geography of the eastern parts of 
Asia was as little known as their history ; a circumstance 
which we shall have occasion to remark more particularly, in 
the course of our observations on the changes of human af- 
fairs. 

If we withdraw our eyes from the revolutions which con- 
vulsed Asia, in consequence of the Tartar conquests, and 
turn our attention to the Greek, or Constantinopolitan em- 
pire, we must there contemplate the melancholy spectacle of 
a state, without energy, and verging towards its downfal. 
Constantinople, which, during so many ages, had proved 
impregnable against every attack, and bidden defiance to all 
the hostile efforts of the Goths, the Huns, the Avars, and 
the Saracens, had, by its intestine factions, and the crimes 
of its rulers, exposed itself to the pillage of the crusaders, 
and the empire had fallen a prey to a band of French and 
Italian adventurers. After that fatal stroke, although the 
empire was re-^established, and the capital recovered by the 
Greeks, yet the former was too much weakened to regain its 
former power and energy, and the latter was too much im- 
poverished to resume its former opulence and splendor. In- 
deed, the Byzantine empire had, ever since the fall of the 
Comnenian dynasty, been extinct, by the inhuman, although 
perhaps justly deserved murder of the Emperor Andronicus, 
the last of that race, had exhibited the picture of fallen pow- 
er and exhausted resources of a government without vigor, 
and a people without virtue, the unequivocal marks ©f a de- 
clining state. Amidst the general decline, political and 
moral vices, instead of diminishing, continually increased. 
Soon afier the accession of Bajazet to the Ottoman throne, 
about the coinmencement of the fifteenth century, the Greek 
empire was so much reduced as to be confined to a narrow 
corner, between the Propontis and the Euxine, containing 
not more than fifteen hundred square acres, a territory little 
larger than one half of the county of Lincoln ; yet this con- 
tracted spot, the melancholy remains of the most powerful 
and extensive empire the world had ever seen, was the the- 
atre of crimes and political factions, and so it continued dur- 
ing (he space of about 50 years, until A. D. 1453, when 
Constantinople, after a siege of 53 days, was taken by the 



274 LETTERS Let. XX. 

Turks, under Mahomet IL The milifarj force which the 
Turks brought against that celebrated metropolis is different- 
ly estimated bj historians, as it is commonly the case in de- 
scribing such transactions. Phiielphus does not think that the 
whole force of the Turks could exceed 60,000 foot and 
20,000 horse. It is magnified by Ducas Chalcondyles, and 
Leonard, of Chios, to above 300,000 ; but Phranza, who 
was a near spectator, states the Turkish army at 258,000. 
Whatever the forces of the enemy might be, it is, however, 
certain, that the force which the minister was able to enrol 
by the Emperor's command, for the defence of the city, 
was exceedingly insignificant, and strikingly shews the ex- 
treme degeneracy of that people, who still arrogated to them- 
selves the tifie of Romans, and dignified the narrow corner 
they possessed with the title of the empire. Phranza says 
he was not able to enrol more than 4,970 volunteers, and that, 
including the Italian auxiliaries, the whole defensive force of 
the city did not exceed eight thousand men. The Emperor 
Constantine Paleologus made an exceedingly vigorous de- 
fence ; and when the city was at last carried by assault, af- 
ter having bravely, but rashly, refused very advantageous 
terms of capitulation, nobly fell in the breach by which the 
enemy entered the city. Phranza pathetically describes the 
shocking scene which followed. The persons and property 
of the citizens were, by Mahomet, given up to the disposal 
of the army ; and the terrified people having fled to the ca- 
thedral of St. Sophia, and other asylums, were dragged 
forth, and, without any distinction of sex or rank, chained 
together, driven through the streets like beasts, and more 
than sixty thousand of them sold into slavery, a circumstance 
shocking to humanity, and which displays, in the most strik- 
ing point of view, the contrast between the indescribable ca- 
lamities of ancient Avarfare, and the mitigated evils of war be- 
tween the civilized nations of modern times. Such was the 
dreadful catastrophe of Constantinople, once the capital, and 
long the sole existing remnant of the Roman empire. x4Lnd 
thus, as it had formerly been the seat of the Romans, it now 
became that of the Ottoman empire, A. D. 1454, and has 
ever since held that station. 

The Greek empire of Constantinople had so long been tot- 
tering on its basis, and the symptoms it had shewn of its ap- 
proaching extinction, ^ere so unequivocal, that no person of 



Let. XX. ON HISTORY. 

the least discernment could mistake in forming a conjecture^ 
of its impending fate. Many of the literati, and others, 
therefore, considered it highlj eecessary to think of seeking 
some establishment or asylum in other countries, in order to 
avoid being involved in the ruin of their own, which had long 
appeared not only inevitable, but exceedingly near; for the 
existence of the Greek empire was, by the concurrence of 
various unforeseen ciicumstances, prolonged to a later pe- 
riod than from general appearances could reasonably have 
been expected ; and its extinction would most certainly have 
tak^n place almost fifty years sooner, if the designs of Baja- 
zet had not been frustrated by the successes of Tamerlane. 

Among the literati of Constantinople, who began to dis- 
perse themselves among the Latins, was Leo Pilatuai, who 
was the first Greek professor at Florence, and the first who 
brought the study of that language into fashion in the west, 
about A. D. 1360. Manuel Chrysolorius established the 
study of the Greek language upon a soUd foundation in Italy, 
and it soon became an object of gej?eral pursuit among the 
Italian literati. Some illustrious patrons of learning now be- 
gan to appear among the princes and great men of Europe, 
especially in Italy. Cosmo and Lorenzo di Medicis were, 
in the fifth century, the patrons equally of learning and the 
arts ; and the efforts of the sovereign pontiff, Nicholas V. 
for the revival of learning, were not less vigorous, or less ef- 
fectual, at Rome, than those of the Medici at Florence. 

We are now, after travelling a long time in the obscure 
shades and rugged paths of Gothic ignorance and barbarism, 
just emerging into the broad sunshine of a period of learning, 
civilization, and commerce, which infinitely excels the most 
brilh'ant ages of antiquity. I shall, therefore, for the present, 
conclude these observations until a favourable opportunity 
shall occur for renewing our correspondence. 

Most respectfully, 

J am, Sir, &c. 

J. B, 



re LETTERS Let. XXL 

LETTER XXL 



SIR, 

THE period which now presents itself to our view, being 
infinitely more pleasin,^, as well as more interesting, than 
that which we have jnst been contemplating, I shall not make 
an / apology for troubling you with my further remarks and 
reflections. 

The period we now enter upon teems with great events, 
which are so many memorable epochs in human aflfairs. 
The place of the dififerent nations of Europe, in the political 
scale, was now in a great measure fixed, and the balance of 
power was beginning to be in some degree established ; so 
that we no more meet with mighty empires rising to an ex- 
orbitant pitch of greatness and power, and swallowing up all 
the neighbouring states in their tremendous vortexes, like 
those of former ages. The most remarkable events of these 
latter times are of a different nature from those of antiquity, 
but they are not less interesting. The revival and rapid pro- 
gress of arts, sciences, and letters — the invention and im- 
provement of manufactures — the survey of the terraqueous 
globe — the discovery of countries formerly unknown — the 
extension of commerce — and the progressive advancement 
of civilization, with all its concomitant arts, embellishments, 
and conveniences, eminently characterize the period which 
has elapsed since about the middle of the fifteenth century, 
an a5ra in which the revival of learning, and the resuscitation 
of the fine arts, began to grow conspicuous, and which was 
particularly distinguished by one of the most memorable 
events which occurs in the history of mankind. This was 
the invention of the art of printing, the only means which 
could have been discovered of drawing the great mass of 
mankind from that profound abyss of ignorance, in which 
they had, even in the most enlighlene dages and nations, ever 
been immersed, previous to the invention of that superexcel- 
lent art. This was a discovery wanted in the flourishing 
ages of Greek and Roman literature, when, as it has already 
been observed, none but fpersons of rank and property 
could acquire any knowledge of letters; and the great 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY;. 277 

Biass of the people in those countries, cclebratec! for 
the seats of ancient literatiite, v/a« buried in profound and un- 
avoidable ignorance. This had ever been, and must ever have 
continued to be, the case with the multitude of every nation, 
had not the invention of printing, by i^educing books to less 
than an hundredth part of their former price, facilitated the 
means of diiriigitig knowledge among the people. 

We have it from good authority, that about A. D. 1215, 
the Countess of Anjou paid two hundred sheep, five quar- 
ters of wheat, and the same quantity of rye, for a volume of 
sermons; so scarce and dear were books at that time; and 
although the Countess might, in this case, have possibly been 
imposed on, we have it on Mr. Gibbon's authority, that the 
value of manuscript copies of the i>ibles, for the use of the 
monks and clergy, comriicnly was from four to five hundred 
crowns, at Paris, which, according to the relative value of 
money at that time and now in our days, could not, at the 
most moderate calculation, be less than as many pounds ster- 
ling at this time. These manuscripts were upon parchment, 
and undoubtedly executed in a superior style of elegance; 
'but, in making every allowance, the value of books, previous 
to the invention of the typographic art, cannot, according to 
the most moderate comjpritatiou, have r>een less than a hun- 
dred times as much as at present. The dirrlculty oi acquu'- 
ing knowledge, on account of the scaiclty and dearness of 
books, necessarily caused a scarcity of teachers, and these 
accumulated difficuhies presented insurm.oiinfable obstacles to 
the diffusion of knowledge ; so tliat, how mucii soever a taste 
for learning might prevail, the advantage was entirely confined 
to the sre^t and opulent, and to the monks, who had the use 
of the libraries of their monasteries ; while an insurnwuntable 
barrier precluded the people from the acquisition of know- 
ledge. How trifling would be the literary atlainn-ents of the 
people of this and other countries of modern Europe, and how 
very contracted would be the Mh^ion of knowledge among 
the multitude, if these dimculties of acquisition yet existed f 
These obstacles, which, in all former ages, had been msur- 
mountable, were suddenly and elfectuaiiy removed by the 
introduction of printing. The inventors of the typogiaphic 
art have contributed infinitely more to the improvement of the 
human mind, and the general civilization of the species, than 
all the speculative philosophers of antiquity, and the cavii- 
• A a 



J^ LETTERS Let. XXL 

ling theologians of later times ; and if their characters be esti- 
mated according to their intrinsic value, and their merits ap- 
preciated by their utility to mankind, their names ought to 
stand in the registers of fame far above those of C«sar and 
Alexander, and other conquerors celebrated in history for 
their success in destroying mankind, and depopulating the 
world. Indeed, if ever the benefactors of mankind deserved 
to have statues erected to their honour, the inventors of the 
art of printing are certainly the men. Of all the events which 
iiave ever happened among mankind, the invention of print- 
ing constitutes, next to the estabhshmenf of Christianity, the 
most interesting and important. 

The invention of this excellent and useful art was followed 
by another event not much less interesting and important, 
allhoiigh of a different nature. This was the discovery of 
Ainerica, an event which has operated a total change in the 
political and commercial s^ysteras of Europe. The discove- 
ry of the properties of the magnetic needle, and the invention 
of the mariner's compass, in the beginning of the fourteenth 
century, by a native or inhabitant of Amalfi, a mercantile 
town in the kingdom of Naples, bad rendered distant naviga- 
tions comparatively safe, commodious, and expeditious, by 
obviating a great number of those difficulties, dangers, and 
delays,^ which attended long voyages in the earlier ages. 
Fiom that time continual improvements were m.ade in the'art 
of navigation, especially by the Venetians, the Genoese, and 
oihsr Kalians. The Pottuguese soon began to emulate the 
maritime powers oi iialy, and the situation of Spain was such 
that she could not be far behind. Tlie Portuguese, however, 
fisst conceived the project of making distant discoveries! 
The monarchs of Portugal seeing their kingdom of little 
weight in the political balance of Europe, and every oppor- 
tunity oi exertion and aggrandisement on the continent denied 
the-iu, by the sidratioii of tlieir dominions, which consisted of 
oCiiV a narrow shred of land on the coast of the Atlantic con- 
ceived tiic noble design of raising their kingdom and people 
to wealth and importance, by promoting a spirit of discovery 
and commerce. So early as A. D. 1412, John I. king of 
Portugal, equipped a fleet for discovery. Many other at- 
tempis, of a siii;iiar nature were successively made, which be- 
ing all diiected towards the south, the Portuguese made gra- 
dual advances in their discoveries along the coast of Africa^, 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. 27^ 

and at last proceeded as far as the southernmost extremity ; 
but the boisterous winds and tempestuous weather thej there 
met with, prevented them from doubling that promoiitoiy, 
which, for that reason, they named Cabo des !os Tormenios,"a 
name which was afterwards changed to the more auspicious 
one of Cabo dis bon Esperanza, or the Cape of Goo J iiope. 
This southernmost promontojy of tlie African continent was 
discovered by Barthol Diaz, in the reign of Jo.hn 1). whof 
at the same time that his fleets were exploring the western 
coast of Africa, directed also his schemes of discovery and 
commerce towards the eastern parts of that continent, by 
sending an embassy to the Em.peror of Abjsinia, about A. 
J). 1486. While the kings of Portugal, inspired with an 
eager desire of fame and aggrandizement, inliniiely moie ra- 
tional and more worthy of a place in the breast of a monarcli 
than that extravagant and criminal thirst for glory whick 
characterized most of the sanguinary heroes of anticpfity^ 
weie thus endeavouring to explore the distant and iinknov.'o 
parts of the globe, and to open new channels of coninierce 
and wealth to their subjects, Christopher Colnmbns, a native 
of Genoa, had formed the most daring and adventurous pro- 
ject ever conceived in the mind of man. The coriimerce of 
India had, in all ages, been considered as an object of i}w 
first magnitude and importance, and had always attracted, in 
a particular manner, the attention of the mercantile world. 
The Tyrians and Egyptians, and also the Jews, in the tUn^ 
of Solomon, were no strangers to this trainc. The Red 'ica, 
and the Persian gulph, were the channels by wliich the In- 
dian trade was always chiefly carried on; and Syria and 
Egypt, the countries which, hy their geographicrd posinoi-. 
formed (he centre of commun-.ation between the eastern and 
western parts of the globe. During the time of ihe prcspcr- 
ity of Tyre, that city rivalled Egypt in the eastern trade, 
but afterwards the Egyptians engrossed the most coiisideia- 
ble part of it. The central situation of Egvot is, indeed, pe- 
culiarly adapted to the ifiii^a of India ; and if thai country 
was possessed by an active, intelligent, commercTt)!, and en- 
terprising people, it might at present, as well as in ancient 
times, monopolize the commerce of the east. Under the 
dynasty of the Ptolemies, and also after the extinction of that 
dynasty, and the reduction of the kingdom to a Roman pro- 
¥iDce, Egypt continued the centre of the commerce carricU 



230 LETTERS Let. XXL 

on between the ea^'tcrn and western parts of the world; and 
Alexandria was tlie great emporium of the Indian trade. The 
t^raSic with the east was carried on by the Egyptian and Ara- 
bian merchants ; and the mercliandizeof India, imported from 
Masiris, a mart lor that traftic, on the coast of Malabar, into 
Bxyp<5 wad forwarded to Alexandria, by canals cut all, or 
ihe i'^vQ'dieii part of the way, from the Red sea fo the Nile, 
or else by hivA carriage, as the distance was no more than 
iroiri two to three days journey, and the comtnodities not 
very bidky. AJeKandria maintaified ihi?^ pre-eminent station 
m the commercial world from the establishment of the Gre- 
cian kingdo. p. c'l Eizj\itj by Plokmy I^agiis, about A. C. 310, 
until toe time oi lis capture by Amron, lieutenant of the Ca- 
liph Omar, A- D. 63C, including a period of about 948 years ; 
and, before the building of Coj>stantinople, was always rec- 
lioned, both in e'jitent, population, magnificence, and opu- 
lence, the second city of the Roman empire. After its sub- 
jection to the Saracens, the troubles and various revolutions 
?yliich ensued exceedingly injured its commerce. The fre- 
quent wars between the eastern empire and the Caliphate, 
impelled the merchants of Constantinople to open a new but 
incommodious channel for a trade wdth Indra through the 
Euxine, then across the land between that and the Caspian 
sea, and afterwards by the river Oxus, to which the Indian 
traders brought their merchandise. This long, difficult, and 
Incommodious cojiveyance, could not, however, fail of en- 
hancing very mucli the vahie of Indian commodities at Con- 
.srantinople, aoti the commerce of the east at last fell into its 
ancient and natural channel. Tiie Saracens had a genius for 
«.."ommerce, and the Caliphs encouraged commercial pnrsuiss ; 
but daring the fionrishing period of the Caliphate, Europe 
was uncommercial aral almost uociviiized. The in(estine 
eomrnotions udiich rent asunder the empire of the Caliphs, 
and agitated Egypt in particular, with various and frequent 
revolutions, prevented that country from taking the rank in 
the commercial Bcale, for which nature seemed to have de- 
gi."-n8d it. As soon, bow^ever, as the Italian states began to 
recover a little fro n the anarchy and barbarism of the Gothic 
ages, they began to open a trade with Egypt. The Vene- 
tians and Genoese, in particular, turning their attention in an 
active and spirited manner to maritime and commercial affairs, 
soon engrossed the commerce of Egypt and India. Alexan- 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. 281 

dria became once more the emporium of eastern commerce, 
and the Venetians and Genoese, by the monopoly of that 
trade, rose to a height of opulence and power that astonislied 
the world. The other nations of Europe, gradually emerg- 
ing from barbarism to civilization, began to turn their atten» 
tion to commercial pursuits, and undoubtedly would have 
been glad to have discovered some means of acquiring a 
share of that commerce, which had raised (he formerly in- 
considerable states of "^ enice and Genoa to such wealth and 
importance. The Portuguese, however, w^ere the first who 
conceived the design of rivalling those Italians in this lucra- 
tive traffic, by opening some other channel of communication 
with India. This was the grand object of all the voyages 
of discovery which were undertaken towards the latter part 
of the fifteenth century. But while the Portuguese w ere gra- 
dually advancing southwards, along the coast of Africa, Co- 
lumbus conceived the great design of sailing to India by a 
direct course across the Atlantic. 

It is somewhat remarkable, that this grand projex^t was 
founded on a general mistake of the geographers of that, as 
well as of all preceding ages, in regard to the situation of In- 
dia, and the other eastern countries of Asia. The geographers 
of Greece and Rome had never obtained any true know- 
ledge of the situation of those countries, nor could any such 
acquisition of geographical knowledge be expected in the 
Gothic or middle ages. Marinus Tyrius supposes the country 
of the Seres, or China, to be situated fifteen hours, or 2'2> 
degrees, to the east of the first meridian, passing through the 
fortunate islands, or Canaries.^ Ptolemy, who flourished in 
the second century of the Christian asra, reduced the longi- 
tJ^de of China to twelve kours or 180 degrees ; but the true 
longitude of the western frontier of China is now known to 
be no more than seven hours, or 105 degrees, east fiom the 
Canaries. Some adventurous travellers of the middle ages, 
particularly Benjamin, a Jew, of Tudela, in Navarre, about 
A. D» 1160; and Marco Polo,, a noble Venetian, about A. 
D. 1265, had penetrated to the easternmost extremities of 
Asia ; but it appears, that those enterprising adventureis 
had either been destitute of the necessary mathematical skill, 
or unprovided with the instruments requisite for ascertairsing 
the longitude of the places they visited ; aod the notions oil 
geographers relative to the sitmatioii of those couiiLiieSj,, slip 

.o>. a. A- 



282 LETTEliS Let. XXI* 

coniiniied confused and erroneous. They had also formed 
erroneous opinions of the extent, as well as the geographical 
position, of the eastern countries of Asia, and imagined that 
they extended far more to the east than they really do. 
Aristotle had, many ages before, conceived the same opin- 
ion, and thought it probable that India was not far distant 
from the streights of tiibraltar. Aristotle de Cseto, Lib. ii. 
Art 1 4. and Seneca had adopted the same hypothesis, with 
so much ardor, as to affirm, that with ^ fair wind it was pos- 
sible to sail from Spain to India in a few days. Columbus 
had made cosmography and navigation the grand subjects of 
his studies, and had acquired a knowledge of them equal at 
least to that which any person of his age possessed ; but mis- 
led by established opinions, and the erroneous positions and 
distorted extent of the eastern countries (jf Asia, in all tha 
maps of that age, he persuaded himself that it would not be 
avery long voyage to sail to India directly by the west. He 
followed the hghts which that age afforded him, and his con- 
fJiisioiis were justly made, but founded on erroneous prin- 
ciples. If the geography of the eastern countries had been 
as well known in the tiaie of Columbus, as in the present age, 
neilher he nor any per-^on wcukl ever have conceived the 
design of sailing to India across the Atlantic ; for the length 
of the voyage would liave infallibly proved fatal to those who 
ghould have made such an attempt* It is generally sup- 
posed, diat Columbus (houc^ht that some immense tract of 
land wns plrsced m that quaiter of the globe which lies wes- 
terly fioin liliirope and Africa, and reaches to tlie eastern 
parts of Asia. This, however, is only a conjecture, and it 
rather appear:?, tliat the chief or only expectation of that 
i;rea< discoverer was that of falling in with some of the easfou 
4?ountrics of Asia, wliicii he tor several reasons supposed to 
fextend towards the east, and consequently to be not very 
remote from the western coasts of Europe and Africa. In- 
deed this opinion so universally prevailed, that as land was 
discovered, Columbus imagined it to be a part of India, until 
the poverty and savage state of the inhabitants convinced 
him of the contrary. In all the succeeding discoveries of 
the different islands and countries on the continent of Ame- 
rica, the same opinion prevailed ; and it seems to have been 
a long time before the Europeans could determine th^ 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. 28S 

question whetlier America was in reality another continent, 
or only an extension of the continent of Asia. 

In estimating the character of Columbus, we cannot hesi- 
tate to pronounce him one of the greatest of men. He was 
certainly endowed with a capacity to conceive, and a courage 
to execute the greatest designs. A patient perseverance, 
which no disappointments could tire out ; a dauntless cour- 
age, which no dangers could intimidate, and a calm composure, 
which no difficulties could disconcert, were the distinguish- 
ing characteristics of his firm and steady mind. If we com- 
pare his achievements with the exploits of most of the heroes 
mentioned in history, we must allow to his merit a decided 
pre-eminence. His enterprizes were planned for the im- 
provement of knowledge and the extension of commerce, and 
not for the destruction of mankind, and tended to explore, 
not to depopulate the globe. If his discoveries have been 
follow,ed by consequences destructive to the human species, 
it was what he, did not intend, and could not foresee. When 
we compare the undertaking of Columbus with the voyages 
of our modern circumnavigators, we must confess, that after 
an impartial examination and estimate, his performances will 
hold the higher place in the scale of comparison. Succeed- 
ing discoveries have had his footsteps for their guidance. 
None of themi lauched into an unknown world, none of them 
ventured to traverse an immense ocean, of which the boun- 
daries were totally unknown, as he did. The navigation 
across the vast Pacific Ocean, first performed by the Span- 
iards, was a great attempt ; but when this was undertaken, 
the longitudes of Acapulco and Manilla, were already knov;n, 
and consequently the distance from the oriental islands to 
the western coast of Mexico ascertained by astronomical ob- 
servations. These fixed principles were wanting to Colum- 
bus. The age in which he lived did not afford him those lights. 
Geographical knowledge, as far as it could with certainty be 
depended on, was confined within narrow limits, and all be- 
yond that contracted circle v/as mere conjecture and ideal 
representation. The art of navigation was yet in a very im- 
perfect state, when compared to that degree of perfection to 
which it is carried by modern improvements and experience ; 
so that, xvithout depreciating the merit, or detracting, in any 
degree, from the praise of our modern discoverers and cir- 
cumnavigators, on whom too great encgmiums most certainly 



284 LETTERS Let. XXL 

cannot be bestowed, candour will oblige us to confess that 
considering the superior geographical and nautical knowledge 
of the present age, as well as their superior equipment, none 
of their performances are characterised wilh that daring spir- 
it of adventurous enterprise which disinguisbes the expedi- 
tion of Columbus; to which posterity is indebted for the d is- 
covery of a new world, and the production of a new com- 
mercial and political system, as well as a multiplicity of new 
modes and arrangements in almost every department of so- 
ciety. -^ r 

After eight years of tedious solicitation and unsuccessful 
applications to the different maritime powers of Europe, by 
most of whom his project was considered as romantic and ex- 
travagant, all the force which he was able, after a long series 
of disappointments and delays, to procure from the court of 
fepam, consisted of three small vessels, manned with ninety 
men, mostly sailors, and the rest gentlemen adventurers; yet, 
with a mind superior to every embarrassment, he undertook 
with this slender equipment to cross the vast and unexplored 
Atlantic, of which the boundaries were then unknown, exhib- 
iting an example of the most dauntless resolution that ever 
resided in the breast of man. The particulais of this inter- 
esting expedition, the most remarkable instance of adventu-^ 
rous enterprise recorded in the annals of the world, are 
known to every one, and its consequences form an impor- 
tant subject in the history of succeeding times. After the 
return of Columbus from the discovery of a new world, new 
scenes began to appear, a new field for adventurous exertion 
was opened, which excited a romantic spirit of enterprise 
and adventure, first in Spain, and afterwards throughout all 
Europfe. Daring adventurers from Spain went to exert their 
abilities and try their fortune on this new theatre. Colonies 
were established. Hispaniola, Cuba, and other islands, 
were colonized ; and at last Mexico was conquered by Fer- 
dinando Cortez, after a series of adventures and successes un- 
paralleled in history, or even in romance. The conquest of 
Mexico was completed by the capture of the metropolis, af- 
ter a siege of seventy-five days, A. D. 1521 ; and twelve 
years after Peru was also conquered by Francis Pizarro and 
Diego Almagro, in conjunction with Ferdinando Lugues, an 
ecclesiastic, whose department was to provide recruits and 
supplies. The conquest of Peru, although it was in its com- 



Let. XXL ON HISTORY. 285 

mencement, impeded bj innumerable difficulties, and attend- 
ed with scenes of uncommon distress, was accomplished 
with far less difficulty and danger than that of Mexico; 
but the differences which arose between the conquerors 
themselves, at last proved fatal to them. A civil war ensu- 
ed, in which Almagro, being taken prisoner, was put to death 
by Pizarro : three years afterwards, Pizarro himself was as- 
sassinated in his palace at Lima by young Almagro ; and in 
the space of one year more, the young Almagro was taken 
prisoner by Yaco di Castro, and beheaded at Cusco, 1542, 
Niignez Yela was defeated and slain by Gonzalo Pizarro, A. 
D. 1 546, and this latier, the brother of Panels Pizarro the con- 
queror, and who had himself acted a very conspicuous part 
in the conquest of Peru, as well as in the civil wars which 
ensued, being deserted by his soldiers, was taken prisoner, 
and with the Brave Francis Carjoval pot to death, A. D. 
L548, by Pedro de la Gasca, an ecclesiastic, sent from 
Spain, with a commission to reduce the rebels of Peru, and 
to govern the country in quality of Viceroy. Thus all the 
principal persons concerned in the conquest of Peru fell by 
the hands of each other, either in battle, on the scaffold, or 
by conspiracy and assassination. It is somewhat remarka- 
ble, that the persons who undertook this important conquest, 
at their own expence and risk, were every one of them up- 
wards of sixty years of age when they engaged^ in this haz- 
ardous enteiprfse, in which their fortune was similar to that 
of the Macedonians and Greeks, who, mider Alexander, con- 
quered Persia. The Spaniards who conquered Peru, like 
the Macedonian coni^aerors of Persia, acquired immense 
weaKh, and extensive power, but like tliem they embrorled 
themselves in a train of civil wars, which embittered the re- 
maining part of their lives, and ultimately terminated in their 
destruction. The daring and hazardous enterprise in which 
the conquerors of Peru embarked, at so advanced a period 
of life, is a remarkable instance of that inordinate avarice and 
ambition which actuated the first adventurers in the new 
world, as well as of that restless spirit of enterprise which par- 
ticularly characterised the fifteenth century, and which the 
discovery of America had eminently contributed to excite. 
The age which immediately succeeded the discovery of 
America, and of the passage to India by the Cape of Good 
Hope, may, with the greatest propriety, be entitled the age 



286 LETTERS Let. XXI. 

of enterprise and adventure ; these two great discoveries hav- 
ing inspired men of desperate fortunes and daring minds, in 
almost everj part of Europe, with a spirit of restless activity 
and romantic expectation. The spirit of adventure operated 
with such singular activitj, that an empire more extensive 
than half of Europe, and containing a greater quantitj of 
gold and silver than ail the rest of the world, was, before the 
middle of the fifteenth century, annexed to the crown of 
Spain solely, by the exertions of enterprising individuals, at 
their own expence, without any other assistance fiooi the 
government, than commission to undertake those conquests, 
which brought such an accession of wealth and territory to 
the Spanish empire. And thus Charles V. who was af the 
same time Emperor of Germany, king of Spain, and sove- 
reign of the Netherlands, as well as a great part of Italy, be- 
came by the conquest of Mexico, Peru, and the other countries 
of Spanish America, master of richer and more extensive 
dominions than any monarch had ever before possessed, 
without issuing a shilling from his own coffers, until the co- 
lonies were in a condition to repay to government the ex- 
pence of the fleets and garrisons sent to protect them. The 
hardships and distresses which the first Spanish adventurers 
suffered, the difficulties they had to encounter, the steady 
resolution, the persevering courage, and the undaunted spi- 
rit of enterprise which characterized those desperadoes, have 
scarcely any parallel in history. Some of them, however, 
acquired immense wealth. Not one of the Spaniards who 
conquered Peru acted as a mercenary soldier, although 
many of them received advance money in order to furnish 
their eqnipment. In dividing the ransom of the. Jnca each 
foot-soldier received 4,000 pesoes, a sum far more than equi- 
valent to as many pounds sterling in tlie present age ; each 
horseman received 8,000 pesoes,"and the officers in propor- 
tion ; and Ilerrera saj?, that the phmder of the city of Cusco 
amounted to 4,000 pesoes per m.an- Besides this immense 
booty the whole country was parcelled out among the con- 
querors, each Spaniard becoming possessor of landed estates 
in proportion to his rank. 

The discovery of a new world not only excited a spirit of 
enterprise and adventure among the people of Europe, but 
gave rise to new scenes of almost evevy kind, and to a mul- 
tiplicity of opportunities of active and industrious exertion^ 



Let. XXL ON HISTORY. 287 

Almost every part of the old world had long been peopled, 
and had undergone various revolutions. The establishment 
of settlements in distant countries was a new scene, and the 
colonization of America afforded new incitements to peaceful 
industry, as its conquests and plunder had done to military 
exertion. The general mode of colonization, used by the 
Spaniards, and sanctioned by the government, was according 
to the Abbe Raynal thus regulated. In the distribution of 
lands among the eonqi.erors of the new world, each foot-sol- 
dier received ,'>,000 square feet for the purpose of building, 
1,885 square toises for garden ground, r,543 square toises 
for orchards, 94,288 square toises for European corn, and 
1,448 square toises for Indian corn, besides the ground ne- 
cessary for keeping ten hogs, twenty goats, an hundred sheep, 
twenty horned cattle, and five horses. The share of each 
horseman was double the quantity of building ground, and 
the quintuple of the rest. The towns were built by active 
and opulent individuals, under conditions and restrictions 
planned by the court, which conferred certain privileges on 
them, and on such persons as came to reside in them, to 
whom the circumjacent lands were distributed by a propor- 
tional division among the founders and the inhabitants. The 
remaining undivided lands of those immense territories were 
left to be possessed by the natives, who were as soon as possi- 
ble assembled in villages, and governed by their own caciques, 
according to the colonial laws, planned by the council of the 
Indies in Spain, under the authority of the court. The oth- 
er nations who established colonies in the Islands, or on the 
continent of America, proceeded upon nearly the same gen- 
eral principles, with particular variations, according to the 
variation of circumstances, and numerous colonies were, in 
process of time, established in different parts of the new 
world. 

The history of the discovery, the conquest and colo- 
nization of America, is peculiarly interesting and curious. 
It displays the gradual piogress of cultivation and com- 
merce in countries before uncultivated, and covered with 
impervious woods and impassable morasses. Colonization 
was a process which had, at one time or another, taken place 
in every part of the globe ; and the wilds of Amei ica exhib- 
ited an exact representation of what every country of 
the old continent had once been. Angjent history is wholly 



288 LETTERS Let. XXI. 

silent concerning the Herculean labours of converting the 
earth from an immense wilderness into a terrestrial paradise, 
by the process of drainage and cultivation ; or, at the most, 
briefly says, that in the reign of certain princes some marshes 
were drained, certain embankments were made, &c. If the 
priests of Egypt had left us an accurate account of the pro- 
cess of drainisg and rendering habitable that country, which, 
before the Nile was embanked by the efforts of human labour 
and industry, was, as is evident from its situation, nothing 
else than one immense morass^, over which that river spread 
its waters without regtraint, such a narrative would have 
been more worthy of our perusal and attention, than all the 
allegorical tales and lying legends in which they instructed 
the Greeks. All the particulars relative to the first peopling 
and cultivating of the different countries of the old continent, 
are buried in perfect oblivion ; and it is in the history of the 
new world alone, that we have an opportunity of contemplat- 
ing scenes of this kind. The histories of America, written 
by Dr. Robertson, and Rev. Mr. Winterbotham, *' are 
excellent and instructive compositions, and contain a vast 
fund of information ; but M. I'Abbe Raynal, in his Philoso- 
phical View of the European settlements, exhibits in the 
most explicit and circumstantial manner the particulars of 
the establishment of the different colonies. The discovery 
of America furnished a variety of new objects to the con- 
templation of both the naturalist and the m.oral philoso- 
pher. In the new world almost every object was ditfer- 
entfrom those seen in Europe, f Birds, beasts, trees, and 
plants, totally different from any thing seen before, attracted 
the attention of those who visited Jhe new continent; and 
human nature v/as there exhibited under modifications, to 
which the world afforded no parallel instance. No country 



*The History of Rev. Mr. W'interbotham, here referred to, is a mere compila- 
tion ff'-in many original authors, a great part of some of whose works he inserted 
verbatim. It is therefore an " excellent and instructive composition," not of Mr. 
W. who has here the credit of it ; but of the various authors, many of whom are 
Americans, from whose works he has simply put together what is called, improper- 
ly, his historj^. 

The Abbe Raynal, in his work here also referred to, is not an authority in all 
instances to be relied on. In many things, which he relates as history, he is 
theoretic, fajiciful, and ill-informed ^ J- Morse. 

f It is not correct to say, that " almost every ohjectm the new world was differ- 
ent from those seen in Europe," It is not true tiiat ^' most things^'' were different. 
Many things were, but most tilings unquestionably were like those on the other 
side of the Atlantic. 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. 239 

with which ihe Europeans had hitherto been ncquairstecl af- 
foiiied an oppottunity of contempladiig; na.n 'm a state ol na- 
ture. This tiAhibilion of liUtiian iial=i fc could only be seen 
in Ametica. The ide-is of those n.a5iii'i2;s of naUiie were 
found totally differ ent from those of the inhabitants of civil- 
ized countries, as might well be expected ; and the first uis- 
coverers, who were no philosophers, atfribufed their want of 




ipacity, 

not furnished them with an opportunity of forming any 
ideas but such as were naturally uKpressedon their oiinds by 
ihe most familiar objects. This was particularly observa- 
ble, whenever any attempt was made to instruct tliem in the 
Christian religion. They readily embiaced that religion^ 
and willingly attended its v/orship ; but it was clearly per- 
ceived that they were not able to comprehend its doctrine^'. 
The powers of their uncultivated understandings were so 
limited, their observations and reflections reached so little 
beyond the mere objects of sense, that they seerried scarce- 
ly to have the capacity of forming abstract ideas, and posses- 
sed no terms of language to express them. To minds in 
such a state, the sublime doctrines of Christianity, as well as 
every other kind of abstract knowledge, were incomprehen- 
sible. Few, therefore, of the natives of America were by 
the Spanish ecclesiastics thought capable of being admitted 
to the privilege of the sacraments of the church. A synod, 
held at Lima, pronounced the Americans to be, through a de- 
ficiency of understanding, incapacitated from receiving the 
Eucharist ; and accordingly decreed their e.xchision from 



Man, in a .tta.ie of nature, was to be seen in Europs, in its nortliarn regions, as 
as well as iti America. 

Whatever was the fact concerniDg the native Indians of Soutli America, to 
whom Mr. B. appears to limit his obsei-vations, in respect to their cajbacil;. to un- 
derstand the doctrines of Christianity, and to become real Christians, it was not so 
with respect to the North A^merican tribes. P/Iany among tiieae tribes, eiabraced 
the Christian religion ; were formed into regular churches : had pastors iVora 
among themselves, maintained a good degree of order and di.«ciplipe ; and the 
usual proportion of their professors, were exemplary for their piety and good mor- 
als. This was the case particularly in the early history cf New- England; in the 
ehurches formed by the apostolic Eliot. If, as has been ascert/Jned, the Hoifm- 
tots are capable of receiving Christianity, and becoming real disciples of Christ, 
we may saTely presume, what is doubtl-.'ss fact, that the whale human roct, with- 
«nt any exception, are capable of becoming real christians, and inheriting -jterxial 
life. J.MoRSjBk 

Bb 



290 LETTERS Let. XXL 

that privilege. The sovereij^n Ponfif, Paul III. however, de- 
ckling with better judgiitent and iireater libeiiJilj of opinion 
and sentiment, in bis ian'Oiis BuH of A. 1). »637, declared 
the Americans to be rational t reatures, entifled to all the 
rights oi iiuman nature, and the benefits of society in common 
with other men, and capable of being admitted to ihe sacra- 
ments, of enieiiflg into holy orders, and of enjoying all the 
privileges ot (he church. To this day, however, A'^ery ^ew 
of ihe Indians are admitted into holy Oiders, and fewer still 
advanced to any dignided station in the church, a ciicimi- 
statjce which may perhaps be attributed rather to their want 
oi iti-erest to procure those sacred eoioluments, which ihe 
Spaniards desire to keep to themselves, than to any deficien- 
cy of understanding; as it is well iinown, that the li'erary 
attainments of some of them who have had the advantage of 
a liberal education, have been far from deserving to be deem- 
ed inconsideral>le. 

Another, and indeed the very worst of all the consequen- 
ces of the discoverv of the new continent, was the intioduc- 
tion of negro slavery. The first Spanish adventurers treating 
the iinfortunate inhabitants of the newly discovered coun- 
tries like beasts of burden. They divided among them- 
selves the lands of the new world, and with the lands the ill-fat- 
ed inhabitants also, whom thev reduced to a state of the 
most abiect slavery, and imposed upon them labours which 
their delicate constitotions were not able to bear. The 
natives of ail those parts of America, com|uered by the 
Spasiiards, inhabited coontries where the fertility of the soii 
spont?H3eoiisIy produced what was necessary to their support, 
and tlie uniform wainith of the climate precluded the neces- 
sity of clothing. In sach a state the natives of America, stran- 
gers to the wants and conveniences of civilized life, were 
U!iaccoSiOnied to any active or laborious exertions, either of 
body or mind. This habitual indolence, with the relaxing 
lieatof tlie cltsiiate, enervated their bodily frame, and render- 
ed theii; toitilly i^niit for labour. The diilerence of bodily 
£tren2.;rh aiul coostilulion between the Anierican natives, 
within the torrid zone, snd the Europeans, was so remarkably. 
conspicnoua, that one Spaniard was lOimd able to perform 
as mucli laborious work, ai]d also required as great a quanti- 
ty of n iciuals, as five or six Indians ; and the natives of 
Ameiica were astonidjed at the quantity of provisions which 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. 291 

the Spaniards, who are the most abstemious people of Eu- 
rope, devoured, as well as at the qiianlijj of work they were 
able to perform. Men accustomed to so indolent a mode of 
hfe, and so scahlj a diet, were totally incapable of support- 
ing the labours of culti\ating the ground, and working in the 
mines, which the colonists imposed upon them. Unable to 
sustain the grievous burdens with which their oppressors af- 
flicted them, muliitu{ies of those unhappy mortals were by 
death released from all their earthly suiierings. Ilispanicla, 
Cuba, and other islands, were almost depopulated before the 
court of Spain was sufficiently apprised of the mailer, to in- 
terest itself in the suifering of the Autericans. The tyranny 
of the unprincipled and avaricious colonists excited the ab- 
horrence, and the miseries of the nau\ es, stimulated the com- 
passion of several huinane and benevolent Spaniards, bo!h l-iy- 
menand ecclesiastics, who had been witnesses of those scenes 
of horror. Among those friends of mankind the name of Fa- 
ther Bartkoloiiiew de las Casas will never be forgotten. This 
humane ecclesiastic, whose courage no dan[;er could appal, 
and whose steady and resolute perseverance no diincuUies 
could overcome, had been an iiidignaat spectator of the ty- 
ranny exercised by the colonists go the UDfortunate natives. 
He had loudly declaimed against tl>eir inhumanity and op-. 
pression. Passing from America to Spain, his ersdeavoured 
by every possible means to excite the public voice, as well as 
the humanity and compassion of the court, in favour of his 
oppressed feliov.^-crealures. This ber.evolerit idoH, \\hose 
name will ever be dear to humanity, ornined iio'hiiig 
which he thought cond«ci\e to the emaEcipation oi ?be r.a- 
lives of x4.merica from the tyranny of their oppressors ; and 
representing to the sovereign Fontif, in the iiiost cjowin >; co- 
lours, the sufferings of the unhappy Americaus, uruler ti e in- 
human oppressions of the colonists, he left no stone unliirjied 
to excite the compassion of both Spain and Roi]>e in behalf of 
those unfortunate sufferers, and to rouse the tliunder of the 
church, as well as the indit:;nation of the Spanish . court, 
against those Christian tyrants and butchers of the human 
species. The colonists, on their part, were not inactive. 
They represented the Americans as an infe. ior race of be- 
ings, born for slavery, incapable of comprehending the {kH> 
trines of Christianity! This degredation of the Arriei leans;, 
from the. rank of rational beings, was, hov^ever, universaUy 



-292 LETTERS Let. XXI. 

exploded and condemned by the , decision of Home and 
Spaia, where the piiijHc indignation was roused against the 
inhunianitj of the colonial tyrants ; Father de las Casas, and 
«)ihei" friends ofliuuianity, were indefatigable in tlieir efforts ; 
anJ it Is a pleasing object of contemplation io see Spanish 
ecclesiastics of the fifteenth century stand forth the avowed 
advocates' and assertors of the rational and inalienable rights 
*>r mankind. The court of Spain interested ilself warndy in 
tne cause of the oppressed Americans, and resolved to take 
emuittve measures for pntlins; an end to the disorders v/liich 
prevailed in the colosiies. The colonists, on their part, find- 
ing their caase daily losing ground, and seeing reason to ap- 
prehend the anathemas of the church, as well as the effective 
resentment of the mother country, took a new ground, and 
discovered a post which they supposed, and which actually- 
proved, in some degree impregnable. They represented 
the necessity of having hands to cultivate the new settle- 
ijients, and to work the mines, without which they must be 
abandoned, and all hopes of drav/ing any advantage from the 
discovery and conquest of those rich countries be for ever 
extinguished ; and they represented the natives as an indolent 
race, whom no wages, no rewards, could induce to w^ork, and 
whom nothing bat absolute compulsion could oblige to apply- 
to any kind of osefai labour. This representation indeed 
was not untrue. Their indolent and inactive life had render- 
ed them eqnally unable and unwilling to apply to any kind 
of labour. Unaccustomed as they had ever been to the ele- 
gancies and luxuries of civilized life, and ignorant of their use, 
they could not suppose them v/orth the trouble of acquisition, 
aud were astonished that the Europeans should either work 
themselves, or desire others to labour, for the possession of 
tilings not immediately necessary for the support of life ; gold 
and silver were things of no value among them. TJiey had 
never made use of those metals, except such pieces as they 
had accidentally found and used merely as ornaments ; and 
they cpuid not conceive by what infatuation the Spaniards 
could be induced to ransack the bowels of the earth, and to 
establish a system of laborious employment for the acquisi- 
tion of tliose metals, which appeared to them of so little use, 
and which they could do so Avell without. It is very evident, 
that men of such ideas, and accustomed to so simple a state 
of life, could not be induced to labour for the sake of gain ; 



Let. XXL ON HISTORY. 293 

for it is an invariable principle of human naf nre not to labour 
for the acquisition of any thing of which the possession is es- 
teemed of no raiue. This plea, therefore, of the colonists, 
was unanswerable. The prospect of immense wealth from 
the new world could not be abandoned. Hands were neces- 
sary to cultivate ihe soil and work the mines. The natives 
would not work for wages ; nothing but compulsory means 
could induce them to employ themselves in labour. These 
circumstances precluded the possibility of emancipating the 
Americans. The exertions of the friends of humanity were 
rendered abortive, in regard to the accomplishment of their 
grand object ; but they were not, however, without a benefi-^ 
cial effect. The court of Spain seriously studied to amelio- 
rate the condition of the Americans ; and different plans were 
formed, and different measures adopted, for that purpose. 
Every new regulation relative to colonial affairs was favora- 
ble to the cause of those oppressed people. As it was not 
possible to draw any advantage from the mines, unless they 
were wrought, and the Americans would not work for hire, a 
circumstance which imposed the necessity of using coercive 
measures, it was at length determined, that they should be 
freed from the tyrannical oppression of their imperious task- 
masters, and only obliged to work by coivees in rota- 
tion, and to receive fixed wages for the days they were oblig- 
ed to work. This was indeed the most rational method of 
gradually overcoming their habitual indolence and rooted a- 
version to labour, and of making them industrious and useful 
members of society. At present the regulation is, that in ca- 
ses of necessity, in mining or agriculture, the Indians 
may be called out to work by corvees of 1 B days, in ro- 
tation, for a fixed salary. In Peru the seventh part, mul 
in Mexico the twenty-fifth part of a colony may be called out 
at once, to work in rotation at such mir.es as are situated 
within thirty miles of their residcRce ; and for these corvees 
they receive wages to the amount of about 2s. 3d. sterlinic 
per diem, which does not appear contemptible wages, but of 
v»'hich we are not able to estimate the intrinsic value, u)^e' s 
we were acquainted with the comparative vshie of money 
in proportion to that of the necessaries of life in Mexico and 
Peru, However, as those are the countries where gold and 
silver abound above all others, we may reasonably presume, 
that money is of less value there, than in any other pail 
®f the worlds B b 2 



294 LETTERS Let. XXL 

Notwilhstanding the rational and humane measures adopt- 
ed bj liie court of Spain, the advocates of American hbeity 
were not fully satisfied; and Father de las Casas, whose 
character is strongly marked by that determined resolution 
which no opposition can disconcert, and that ardent zeal 
which can never abandon a favourite project, was firmly 
bent on trying every expedient in order to accomplish the 
complete emancipation of the natives of the new world; and 
in his zeal, fur so good a cause, unfortunately hit upon the 
desperate expedient of neg^o slavery, thus alleviating the 
miseries of America by hurling them upon Africa. 

liislory presents to the eye of reason and humanity the 
shocking spectacle of an extensive system of slavery exist- 
ing among the nations of antiquity. We have, in a general 
yiei^' of the social system of Rome, under the republican and 
imperial governments, seen the rigorous treatment of slaves 
in the early ages, and contemplated with pleasure the ame- 
lioration of their condition in the latter tiroes of the republic, 
and under the government of the Empej'ors. This happy 
change ia the condijionof slavery, proceeded, as already ob- 
served, from a variety of causes ; and the estabhshment of 
Chiisfianity at lengili added its benign influence to soften the 
condition of those unfortunate mortals, who were placed in 
that abject and depressed state. The Christian religion was, 
indeed, peculiarly calculated 1o produce this happy effect. 
By teaching thar the slave and his master must appear with- 
out disiincHon before the tribunal of the impartial Judge of 
all mankind, it held out to the former a strong ioducement to 
a patient acquiescence io his condition, while it inspired the 
latter with sentiments of humanity and benevolence towards 
those whom Providence had thus placed under his authority. 
And although the system of slavery was not absolutely abol- 
ished on the establishment of Christianity, its hardships 
v.'ere considerably mitigated ; for certainly no Christian, who 
was v/orthy of the name, could treat his slaves with unpro- 
voked cruelty, or unnecessary rigour. The subversion of 
the empire by the northern nations, by reducing the slaves 
and their masters for the most part to the same state of vil- 
lanage, under the feudal system, in a great measure annihi- 
lated the system of absolute personal slavery, as it had exist- 
ed among the Romans. The Turks, and other nations, who 
«ubvef led tlie empire of the Caliphs, again introduced th.e 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. ^ 295 

Roman custom of condemning to slavery their prisoners of 
war ; and the same S;ystem was, by way of retahation, adopt- 
ed by the crusaders. After the enthusiastic frenzy of the 
rehgious wars had subsided, in proportion as the minds of 
men became more enlightened, as reHgion became better un- 
derstood, and better practised, and as the advancement of 
commerce and civiHzation diffused wealth among the people, 
the system of slavery gradually disappeared, and the feudal 
system itself was, by a concurrence of causes, at last abol- 
ished in several parts of Europe. It is, however, a melan- 
choly circumstance, that the extinction of slavery in Europe 
was as soon followed by its establishment in America. We 
have seen that various causes concurred, in such a manner, 
as rendered the effect inevitable. Jn this life evil is invariably 
mixed witligood, and we finite creatures are notable to com- 
prehend the designs of a Providence, infinitely wise in 
permitting those scenes of misery which the world so abun- 
dantly displays. Slavery is a bitter cup, and we see what 
niiiltitudes of mankind have been compelled to drink it, which 
naiurally gives rise to this question ; — What right can be 
claimed by man to exercise this tyranny over man, his fel- 
low creature? To Christians this is a question of the most 
serious importance, which they ought to endeavour to answer 
to their own conscience?, as they believe that it must one 
day be answered before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, 
whose integrity all the gold and silver brought from the 
mines of America cannot bribe, whose omniscience no cun- 
ning can elude, and whose omnipotence no power can resist. 
Nothing but a combination of circumstances, which render- 
ed the establishment of the slave-trade absolutely necessary, 
could have given a sanction to its existence. Father de las 
Casas, Cardinal Xiaienes,| and other illustrious advocates of 
Amerian liberty, had undoubtedly the best intention in pro- 
jecting and promoting the system of negro slavery. If the na- 
tives of America could have been by any rewards induced to 
apply themselves to labour, die humanity and justice of the 
court of Spain would have put them on {he footing of Europe- 
an labourers and the importation of slaves from Africa would 
never have been thought of; but it plainly appeared that their 
unconquerable aversion to labour could not be diminished, 
and that the compulsion necessary to oblige them to work, 
was likely to entirely extej* juinate the whole race. The 



296 ^ LETTERS Let. XXL 

projectors of the slave trade, who were undoubtedly humane 
and benevolent men, imagined, that by importing from Afri- 
ca a number of slaves, taken prisoners in the wars, which 
frequently took place among the savage nations of that conti- 
nent, or such as were malefactors, convicted of crimes against 
society, they might make useful labourers of many on whom 
the punishment of death or slavery would otherwise be m- 
flicted in Africa, in consequence of martial law or judicial sen- 
tence. They might also with no small probability of con- 
jecture, imadne that slaves procured from a distant country, 
and purchased at a great expence, would be better treated 
and taken care of by their interested masters than the unfor- 
tunate natives, whose lives appeared of no value in the eyes 
of the colonists. It was also considered, that the negroes had 
not that rooted aversion to labour which so strongly charac- 
terised the natives of the new continent, and that their robust 
coastitutions, and the strongly compacted frame of their bo- 
dies, rendered them capable of undergoing those labours and 
fatigues which threatened the extirpation of the whole race 
of the natives of America. 

To all these considerations there might, perhaps, be add- 
ed, the expectation that the introduction of a number of 
robust slaves into the colonies would in time be productive 
of a race of active and industrious labourers, aad that in two 
or three generations, the Americans, becoming accustomed 
to a civilized life, and acquainted with its conveniences, 
would gradually lose their aversion to employment, which 
has, indeed, been in some degree the case, and that tlie ne- 
cessity of slavery would in time be superseded by tlie in- 
crease of voluntary labourers. These considerations might, 
and many of them undoubtedly did, present themselves to 
the minds of the first projectors of the African slave trade, 
and sufficiently evince the rectitude of their intentions. The 
consequences, it is true, have been in many respects shocks 
ing to humanity, but these they did not, and, indeed, could 
not foresee. Man is liable to error, and some men are so 
circumstanced, that the slightest mistake in their conduct 
cannot fail of producing the most fatal consequences, either 
to themselves or to others ; a condition too hard for a finite 
capacity ; yet, if we carefully peruse the history of man^ 
kind, or extend our observations abroad in the world, we 
may easily perceivej that many persons are placed in «uch a 



m 



Let. XXI. ON HISTORY. 297 

situation, among whom the first projectors of the slave trade 
may, wifh 2;reat propriety, be numbered. 

it was, indeed, impossible that the persons who planned 
the system of neg?o slavery, in order 1o alleviate the suffer- 
ings of humanity in America, should forsee in their full ex- 
tent the calamities which their project would bring upon the 
people of Africa. It is computed by M. FAbbe Raynal, 
that between eight and nine millbns of negroes have been 
imported into the American Colonies, and that one million 
and an half do not now rem.ain."^ If this calculation be 
just, or nearly so, it exhibits a destruction of the human spe- 
cies, of which the history of mankind affords few examples, 
and which must proceed from a series of sufferings shocking 
to humanity. .It cannot be attributed to the "change of cli- 
mate, for the countries from whence the negroes are brought, 
are situated within the torrid zone, and in the same climate as 
most of tJie American settlements into which they are irii' 
ported ; and, excepting Batavia, scarcely any countries can 
be found on the surface of the globe where the air is more 
sultry and insalubrious than in Negroland and Guinea. This 
singular and shocking destruction of the unhappy Africans, 
may therefore without doubt, be chiefly attributed to their 
violent separation from their country and their connections, 
and that depression of spirits inseparable from a state of sla- 
very. 

The miseries of the unhappy Africans have, however, 
been very much alleviated by the humane regulations of the 
different European powers who are concerned in the slave 
trade. Among those, the benevolent and well judged meas- 
ures adopted, at different times, by the British Parliament, 
hold a conspicuous place, and strikingly exhibit the wisdom, 
the equity, and the humanity of that august body. The 
question of the propriety of an entire abolition of the slave 
trade has been amply discussed in that illustrious senate, and 
all the powers of argumentation have been displayed on both 

* The computation of tlie Abbe Raynal, both in regard to the amount of negroes 
imported into the American colonies, and the " number which now remain," is, 
I conceive, loose, and incorrect. The number supposed to have been imported is 
exaggerated ; and more remain than is here stated.* The number destroyed, of 
course, is in. both ways diminished. After all, the destruction of this unhappy 
race of beings by means of their slavery will appear sufficiently large to shock the 
feelings of the humane, and excite an abhorrence of this vile traffic. — J. Morse. 

* The number of negroes in the United States alonein 1810, was l,377,OO0i 



298 LETTERS Let. XXI. 

sides. A total abolition of that traffic has unfortunately been 
found impracticable, or calculated to produce evils of a great- 
er magnitude than those it was intended to remedy. These 
parliamentary discussions, however, have not been without 
the most beneficial effect, in giving rise to a number of hu- 
mane and judicious arrangements in the system of the slave 
trade ; and there is no doubt but further steps will still be 
taken to alleviate the miseries of slavery, in poportion as cir- 
cuiJistances appear favorable to the propriety and safety of 
such measures.* It is to be hoped, and may, indeed, with 
every degree of probability be expected that slavery will be 
gradually abolished in America, as it has been in Europe ; 
and that in process of time the circumstances of the Colonists 
will render its existence unnecessary. Every friend of man- 
kind wishes for the speedy approach^of that desirable mo- 
ment. Several members of the British Parliament, not less 
illustrious for their senatorial abilities, than for their philan- 
throphy^nd liberality of sentiment, have, in different sessions, 
distinguished themselves in the noblest cause that ever came 
before a national senate, or ever called senatorial talents into 
exertion ; and although the moment marked m the volume of 
Divine Providence, for the accomplishment of this great 
work, was not yet arrived, there is no doubt but their 
benevolent intentions and endeavours have received a re- 
ward : — 

" Which nothing earthly gives^ or can destroy 

'* The soul's calm sunshine and the heart-felt joy/' 

Such friends of humanity will never be wanting in tlie 
British Senate ; for we are not to imagine that those mem- 
bers of that enlightened body, who opposed the abolhion of 
the African slave trade were actuated by sentiments less hu- 
mane, or were less desirous of the general welfare of the hu- 
man species, than those who so strenuously supported the 
motion. There is not the least reason to doubt, but the op- 
ponents of the abolition would have been happy to join with 
the advocates of that measure if they could have persuaded 

* The abolition of the slave trade, as respects the British Empire, has since Mr. 
B. published his work, been accomplished, through the philanthropic labours, and 
persevering efforts of Grenville Sharp, Esq. and the Hon. Wm. W'ilbervorce 
and others. This very important Act, received the sanction of royalty on the 
25th of March 1807, a day never to be forgotten ia the annals of the British Em- 
pire. ' J'. M'JRSii, 



Let. XXr. ON HISTORY. 2Sr» 

themselves of the possibility of carrying it into effect with 
safety. "^ 

The transactions which have taken place in St. Domingo, 
have given reason to augur less favourably on the emancipa- 
tion of the negroes than many had formerlj done, and will, 
undoubtedly, for a long tiaie be remembered to their disad- 
vantage. The insurrection of the enfranchised slaves of that 
once flourishng colony is, indeed, an unfortunate circumstance, 
which will operate very much to the disadvantage of the 
African cause in all the different European settlements ; but 
it ought also to be considered, that France emancipated her 
slaves at a tijne when the unsettled state of both the colonies 
and the mother count rj rendered them extremely unfavoura- 
ble to such a measHre. If the abolition of negro slavery had 
taken place in the French colonies in a time of public tran- 
qitillity, eiiher under the former monarchical or the present 
consular government, and the attention of the emancipated 
negroes been directed to the employments and puj suits of 
peaceful industry, instead of putting arms in their hands, as 
was done in St. Domingo, there is every reason to suppose 
that no such tragical effects would have been produced by 
their emancipation, as that island has unfortunately exhibited. 
It is, therefore, to be hoped, that the rebellion of the French 
colonies will not in future discussions of the important question 
t)f the abolition of slavery, be allowed to have greater weight 
in the scale of argumentation than existing circumstances re- 
ally give it. It is to be hoped, and even without pretending 
to a spirit of prophecy, may be predicted, that every species 
of slavery will in time be abolished in all the European set- 
tlements. 

I am fully convinced that those reflections, on so interest- 
ing a subject of human history as the slave trade, will not 
seem tedious to you ; and I am sufficiently acquainted with 
the native benevolence of your heart, to believe that you will 
contemplate with pleasure every probability of its future abo- 
lition. Joining, therefore, with you in every sentiment on 
that subject, 

I am, Sir, &c. 

J. B. 



* Tlie apolosrj'^ here made for- those, who opposed the abolition of the African 
Slave Trade in the " British Senate," is an instance of ecttreme randir. It woula 
hfive beea quite enough to liave passed them in silence, and without direct censure. 

J. MOBSE. 



300 LETTERS Let. XXIL 

LETTJER XXIL 

We come now to investigate one of the most important 
tonsequemes of the di:^cover} of Anterica, (viz.) its influence 
on the prices of the necessaiies of life, in this and the other 
counti ies oi Europe. 

The discovery of America is one of those important events 
which have operated an extraordinary and lasting change in 
the system of human affairs. It has been already observed, 
that this remarkable event soon excited a spirit of enterprize 
and adventure, before unknown, and produced a system of 
colonization, with which the world had long been unacquaint- 
ed ; and that it has given rise to a new system of slavery 
which humanity must deplore and abhor, although il can- 
not perhaps, without great difficulty, nor without waiting for a 
favorable coincidence of circumstances, now be abolished. 
American agriculture has also rendered cheap and plentiful 
a number of the conveniences and luxuries of life, which before 
were exceedingly scarce and dear ; and introduced many oth- 
ers before wholly unknown. The sugar cane had been cul- 
tivated from time immemorial in some parts of Asia and Af- 
rica ; and sugar was one of those articles of luxury with which 
the traffic of the port of Alexandria supplied Rome and the 
other parts of the Empire. Sugar was known to the Romans 
by the name of Saccharum, but was very scarce and dear, 
and used only in medicine, or at the tables of the opulent. 
The cultivation of the sugar cane was introduced into Sicily 
about the middle of the twelfth century. From Sicily it 
was brought into the southern provinces of Spain. From 
thence it was carried into Madeira and the Canaries, and 
from those islands into America, where the soil and climate 
were found so favorable to the production of that article of 
commerce, that it became a staple commodity in several of 
the colonies. Coffee, a native of Abyssinia, had at an early 
period been transplanted into Arabia; and, like sugar, consti- 
tuted an article of the Alexandrian commerce, but was little 
known in ancient Europe. This was also introduced into 



Let. XXll. ON HISTORl. 301 

America, where it prospered exceedingly ; and the profits 
arising fiom these two articles inciting the colonists to an ex- 
tensive cultivation of them, the quantities imported into Eli- 
rope rendered them cheap and plentiful. Tobacco was also 
unknown in these parts of the world until it was introduced 
into England by Captain Lane, who brought back some per- 
sons sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to make a settlement in 
Virginia. This, like sugar, is now become an article of com- 
mon use. 

/J'he introduction of many articles of luxury, unknown to 
the Greeks and Romans, as well as the bringing into com- 
mon use many others, which, by reason of their scarceness 
and enormous price, could be obtained only by the great 
axd wealthy among the ancients, was not, however, the most 
important alteration produced on the commercial and social 
system of Europe by the discovery and colonization of the 
new world. The vast and continual influx of gold and sil- 
ver from the American mines into Europe, by rendering 
those metals beyond all comparison more plentiful than for- 
merly, and consequently diminishing their value, advanced 
the prices of every kind of European produce, and, in gen- 
eral, of every kind of property. This extraordinary ad- 
vancement of the value of European property, which, after 
the importation of American wealth had begun to take place, 
was soon augmented in a three or fourfold, and at last, in 
many instances, in more than a tenfold proportion, is the 
peculiar characteristic, which, in this respect, distinguishes 
the discovery of the new world above every other event 
which has ever happened. It does not appear that any very 
remarkable advancement in the prices of provisions, &c. had, 
except, in seasons of extieaie scarcity, taken place during 
several centuries, although some small and gradual augmen- 
tation be perceptible, in proportion as civilization increased, 
and commerce was more extended. The augmentation, how- 
ever, and diffusion of wealth, had procee»:ed so slowly in 
Europe, before the influx of gold and silver from America 
had begun to produce its effects on the commercial sj stem, 
that so late as A. D. 1531, when the concinest ®f Peru was 
not completed, and that of Mexico, as well as Terra-Firma, 
and other rich countries, so recently accomplished, as not 
yet to have poured anv considerable quantity of their wealth 

C c 



302 LETTERS Let. XXIK 

into Europe, a great feast being held at Ely-House, London, 
Mr. Peniiant gives us the following bill of fare, viz. 

I. s. d, 
24 Beaves or bullocks, at-*--l 6 8 each. 
1 Ox, from the shambles - - - - 1 4 

100 Fat sheep, at 2 10 each. 

51 Large calves, at -----048 each. 

Best pullets 24 apiece. 

Common pullets -----002 apiece. 
Pigeons, 37 doz. at-*-----0 2 per. dos. 
Larks, 350 doz. at ----- 5 ditto. 

Minutiae omitted. 

This feast was honoured with the presence of King Henry 
Vlll. and his Q,ueen Catharine of Arragon ; and Mr. Pen- 
nant has, in his history of London, favoured us with the bill 
of expeiiCes, which to us, at this tioie, would seem almost 
inoedible, if we were not acquainted with the circoaistances 
which have produced so extraordinary a change since that 
time. The same author also informs us, that A. D. 1536, 
the mills belonging to the Priory of Bermondsey were let for 
6L which was the estimated value of 18 quarters of good 
wheat, i. e. 6s. Sd. per quarter. Without, however, enter- 
ing into tedious details, it suffices to observe, that a great num- 
ber of authentic historical documents exist, both in this and 
other countries, which shew the little value of landed property 
and its produce, in Europe, during the middle ages, and its 
slov*' advancement, until the discovery and colonization of the 
new world had taken place ; or, in other words, the scarcity 
of gold and silver before the American mines had begun to 
pour their w^eahh into the old world. 

The circulation of gold and silver in different ages and in 
the different parts of xhe world, is a cuiious and interesting, 
but in some respects a difncult subject of investigation. It 
appears that those metals w^ere used as a medium of com- 
merce 31 early as in the titiie of Abraham, and that they serv- 
ed as ornainenlal articles of dress, in a period little less re- 
mote ; and, indeed, although we have no authentic informa- 
tion relative to this particular, it is extremely probable that 
gold and silver were used as ornaments before they were es- 
tablished as a medium of commerce, and the standard where- 
by to estimate the comparative value of other articles. We 



Let. XXIL ON HISTORY. Soa 

maj collect from sacred history, that gold and silver, as well 
as divers kinds of precious stones, were sufBciently pfeiififul 
in Egypt at the time of the egress of the Israelites, and the 
valiiai>le offerings of the people, for the construction of the 
tabernacle, with all the rich liiaterials of which that sfrncture 
was composed, as well as those irsed for the Hidi Priest's 
garments, and in the whole apparatus of religion, were fui" 
nislied ont of those treasures which they had carried on? of 
that country; for no other channel can be dirscovered, or 
even with any appearance of probability imagined, by which- 
the Israelites could at tliat period be supplied wiiji sitch pleti- 
iy of ^hose valuable commodities ; for they had not then ob- 
tained any wealth by the phnider of enensies ; the spoils of 
Midian being the first considerable acquisition of IhJs kind 
aftar their departure fi'om Egypt; and the Midianilith war 
was an event posterior to the construction of the tafiernacle. 
In regard to commerce, there is no where any meet ion iwdde, 
nor the least appearance of any being carried on by the Is- 
raelites, whereby they could have obtained siub a sfoc].: <»f 
valuable materials, so soon after their entrance into the u ii- 
derness. In their conquests of the land of Canaan, they ap~ 
pear to have sometimes made a considerable booty ; bnt it is 
not imtil the reign of David that we observe that prcfiision 
of wealth, which seems astonishing in a period of such re- 
mote antiquity. And the abundance of gold and silver 
which Jerusalem displayed in the succeeding reign of Solo- 
man has staggered the Ciechdity of some readers of the 
Jewish nation. It appear?, hov;ever, that those metals were 
at that time very plentiful in Egypt, and several covrntiits 
of Asia. The history of David's wars and conquesis 
makes it appear that Yevy considerable quantities of a:old and 
silver had, by some means, been introduced into the coun- 
tries situated between the Euphrates and the Levant Sea; 
and it seems that this influx of wealth mnst, (as has already 
been observed in speaking of the commerce of the ancient 
world,) have been in a great measure ihe effect of the trade 
carried on by the Tyrians and Egyptians with the eastein 
and southern parts of the world. The commercial connec- 
tions between Solomon and the Tyrians, with the wealth 
they produced, have also been already noticed ; and it ap- 
pears, from both sacred and profane history, that there was 
abundance of both gold and silver in Egypt, in the western 



304 LETTERS Let. XXIi. 

parts of Asia on this side of the Euphrates, and in Assyria 
and Chaldea, before tiie conquest of Bardis and Babylon had 
traiisferred a great part of the wealth of those countries into 
the hands of the Perjsians, who, before that period, do not 
appear to have possessed any gs-eat riches, and only then 
emerged from poverty and obscurity to wealth and eminence. 
No historical documents, however, exist, which can give iis 
any certain information by what channels those vast quanti- 
ties of goid and silver had entered into the countries just 
mentioned, and we are equally left in the dark respecting 
the parts from whence those riches weve brought, as there 
cannot be found in history, either ancient or modern, sacred 
or profane, the least hint that any mirjes of those metals ex- 
isted in any of those countries ; nor does history inform us 
In what part of the world they were found. In this, as in 
many other historical subjects, we are entirely left to con- 
jecture; and the most probable conjecture is, that the gold 
and silver of the ancient world was the produce of Africa, 
where those metals, especially gold, is known to abound 
both in the iBterlor and the eastern parts ; especially in Mo- 
iiomopata, Monoemugi, and Sofala, which last is by many sup- 
posed to be the land of Ophir, to which Solomon's fleets used 
to sail ; although others, with less probability, suppose it to 
have been the island of Ceylon, or some other part of India, 
or the oriental islands. In whatever parts of Africa or Asia 
these metals were found, it is, however, highly probable that 
they were introduced into Egypt, and the western parts of 
Asia, by the Arabian, Egyptian, and Tyrian merchants* 
The Egyptians especially might bring a considerable part of 
them by their caravans, wliich, from time immemorial, used 
to travel into Ethiopia, under which name all the interior and 
southern parts of Africa were formerly comprehended ; as ^ 
the Ethiopian caravans in like manner traded into Egypt. 
In the Hourisfiing ages of Greece, gold and silver began to 
be plentifully introduced into that country, particularly af- 
ter the conquest of Persia by Alexander^ which caused the 
wealth of that empire to circulate westward. All this while 
Home was exceedhigly poor, and her warlike citizens pos- 
sessed a very small quantity of those valuable metals, until 
the conquest of Macedonia, and the Grecian kingdoms of 
Asia, caused the riches of the east to flow into her bosom. 
After the Goths, and other northern nations, began to make 



Let. XXII. ON HISTORY. 305 

successful inroads into the Roman empire, the phinder of its 
provinces put them in possession of part of its riches, and gold 
and silver, wilhi which they had before been almost wholly 
unacquainted, began, by those pra^datory wars, to be intro- 
duced among them. After the total subversion of the wes- 
tern empire, those riches which Rome had accumulated by 
so many centuries of successful rapine, were, by degrees, 
diffused over all Europe, and gold and silver introduced in- 
to the regions of the north. The abundance of gold and sil- 
ver, which, as history informs us, was displayed with p.o^ 
fusion, in the palaces, the dress, the arms, &c. of the an- 
cients, seems astonishing, and almost incredible to modern 
readers ; and a person who examines the subject only in a 
superficial manner, is ready to ask this question — What is 
become of that abundance of those metals which was display- 
ed in certain countries; for example, in Jerusalem and Ju- 
dah, in ancient times ; and why do we not see the same pro- 
fusion of gold and silver in the present age, especially as the 
mines of America have produced 'such abundance? The 
question is not of a difficult solution, and the answer is ob- 
vious. In the ages of antiquity gold and silver were not so 
extensively diffused, nor so generally circulated as at pre- 
sent. In the times here under consideration, and in the 
countries of which our histories treat, wealth was concentrat- 
ed within a contracted circje. Egypt, and that small dis- 
trict of Asia which extended from the Levant sea, and the 
Grecian Archipelago, to the Euphrates, with Assyria and 
Chaldea, were tjie only countries where history, either sa- 
cred or piofar.e, mentions any such abundance of gold and 
silver. Those metals had not then circulated any farther 
from the countries where they were produced, and they 
were lodged in a few hands. They remained chiefly aiiioiig. 
the princes and grandees. Commerce had not at that pe- 
riod branched out into a sufficient number of raiiiiiicatioriS to- 
disseminate them among tlie people at large. This is the 
reason why such a profusion of them was seen in some pai 
ticular palaces^ and with some particular pcisons. Vi 
read of the importation of those metals into tiie Israeliti:-..}! 
dominions by Solomon's fleets ; but it is highly probably 
that this trade was monopolized by the crown ; and, not with- 
standing the extraordinary display of wealth in Jerusalem, 
WQ are not to suppose that so great a quantity of gold ani. 

C c ^ / 



306 LETTERS Let. XXIL 

silver t^^as in circulation an>ong the farmers, tradesmen, and 
mechanics of Israel, as among those of several European 
countries; nor that the whole quantity accumulated in Solo- 
mon's kingdom would bear anj comparison with the amount 
of the circulating cash of England or France. The wealth 
then accumulated in one narrow corner was afterwards dis- 
persed among the Persians, then among the Greeks and Gar- 
thagenians, next among the Romans ; and at last throughout ^ 
Europe, where no gold or silver ha<i been disseminated be- 
fore. The treasures, which appeared immense when con- 
centrated within a narrow space, became small when divi«i- 
•ed into so many portions, and dispersed into so many coun= 
tries ; and this circumstance made gold and silver extreme- 
ly scarce, which had seemed so plentiful at a far more ear- 
ly period. Gold was, indeed, so scarce, that none was ever 
coined in England before the eighteenth year of Edw^ard the 
Third, A. D. 1543; nor any silver but pennies, halfpence, 
md farthings. It must, however, in ail calculations of the 
^alue of property, be observed, that the Norman pound 
was a pound weight of silver, according to Bishop Fleet- 
wood, Sir Robert Atkins, and others ; and Mr. Felks says^ 
that this Norman pound was equivalent to 2L 18s. Id, ; and 
as the pound of twelve ounces troy was coined into twenty 
shillings, therefore the intrinsic value of a NormaiV shilling 
was almost three times as m.uch as one of our shillings^ and 
amounted to 2s, 10|J. ; and, A. D. 1346, the Norman 
pound was reduced to ten ounces troy. In the times of the 
Norman kings, before Edw ard III. the only gold coins in 
this, or, perhaps, nuy other country of Europe, w^ere the 
Byzants of Constantinople. The fluctuations in the value 
of coins renders the computation of the value of property, 
^n former ages, somewhat more difficult and uncertain ; but 
ii is evident that the prices of the different articles of Euro- 
pean produce had advanced very slowly, and that gold and 
silver continued extremely scarce until the mines of the new 
world were opened. The abundant display of those metals, 
while they were confined to Egypt and the western parts of 
Asia, and the scarcity of them after they were dispersed into 
sio many diSerent countries, shew that the produce of the 
mines, in what part soever they were situatee?, had not been 
^mfficiently plentiful to counterbalance the effects of their ex- 
'ffjisive dissemination, or else that commerce bad not beep 



Let. XXII. ON HISTORY. 307 

sufficiently active and flourishing to create a copious influx 
of them from the countries where they were produced. 
Both these causes might concur to produce that scarcity of 
gold and silver which continued so long in Europe. A third 
cause might also co-operate in producing this scarcity beside 
the extensive dissemination of those metals, and the inade* 
quacy of their production or influx to its supply ; it is scarce- 
ly to be doubted, that great quantities of treasure had been 
buried in the times of those praedatory wars, conquests, and 
violent revolutions, which so frequently agitated the ancient 
world ; and consequently a considerable part of the gold and 
silver, so profusely displayed in the early periods of anti- 
quity, had perhaps wholly disappeared. 

The discovery of America, and the opening of her mines, 
had an almost magical effect on the commercial and social 
system of Europe. The influx of American wealth into 
Spain and Portugal, which, from thence was, by innumera- 
ble channels of commerce, rapidly circulated into the dif- 
ferent countries of Europe, produced an immediate diminu- 
tion in the value of gold and silver, and a proportionate ad- 
vance in that of European produce. In order to make an 
estimate of the increased quantity of gold and silver, in 
Europe, since the opening of the American mines, it is only 
necessary to observe, that Dr. Robertson, an accurate, as 
well as elegant historian, says, that, according to a moderate 
computation, the quantity of gold and silver imported into 
Spain from America, amounts, on an annual average, from 
A. D. 1492 to A. D. 1TT5, t6 the sum of fe-or millions of 
pounds sterling, which, during that space of tine, makes 
1132,000,000L sterling; and that, if we make a calculation 
of the quantity fraudulently introduced, we may compute the 
whole quantity of gold and silver imported into Spain from 
her colonies, at no less a sum than two thousand millions. 
The Abbe Raynal also asserts, that daring the period which 
had elapsed from the discovery of Brasil to A. D. 17 56, an 
hundred millions of pounds sterling, in gold, had been import- 
ed into Lisbon from that colony. The same author also, in 
giving an example of the dispersion of those metals by com- 
merce, says, that notwithstanding this inStix of gold into Por- 
tugal, the circulating cash of that kingdom, accerdiog to the 
most accurate calculation, ajDoiJuted to no more than 833, 
S33L sterling ; and that the national debt was, at the same 



308 LETTERS Let. XXIL 

time, 166,666/. sterling. It cannot reasonably be supposed 
that such calciilalions are exact— Ihat is impossible in the na- 
ture of things ; but they maj*, and no doubt are, suiiiciently 
so to enable us to form a rough estimate, not only of the vast 
quantity of gold and silver brought into circulation since the 
opening of the American mines, but also of the powers of in- 
dustry exerted in agriculture, manufactures, and cofomerce, 
to attract the wealth of foreign countries; for it is certain 
that a far greater part of the wealth imported into Spain and 
Portugal is lodged in England, France, and Holland, than in 
the countries into which it is first brought. 

The influx of American wealth into the old world has also 
been productive of some alteration in the relative value of 
gold and silver, the mines of the new world producing a far 
greater proportion of the latter than of the former metal. 
This alteration is, therefore, the most observable in those 
parts of the world, which are the most influenced by the 
American trade. The proportional value of gold to silver, 
was, according to M. 1' Abbe Raynal, in ancient Greece, as 
one to thirteen. In Roaie, at the time of the extinction of 
the republic, as one to ten ; and under the miperial govern- 
ment, generally as one to thirteen. In Europe, in the age 
immediately preceding the discovery of America, as one to 
twelve. In Japan, at present, as one to eight. In China, ag 
one to ten. In India, as one to eleven ; then as one to twelve ; 
thirteen or fourteen in advancing westward; and in Spain, 
and ail the countries'of modern Europe, as one to sixteeu. 
This proportional value of those two metals is hkely soon to 
undergo some further alteration, since it appears that the pro- 
duction of gold is increasing, and that of silver considerably 
on the decline. When the mines of Potosi were first 
\y fought, one hundred weight of ore produced fifty pounds of 
silver; but at present the same quantity of ore produces only 
two pounds, a very considerable decrease in the production 
of that metal ; for those mines produced a greater quantity of 
silver than all the world besides, and it appears that they are 
now almost exhausted. No other mines likely to counter- 
balance the failure of those of Potosi have yet been discover- 
ed ; but, perhaps, some such may yet be found ; for mining 
is the grand object of enterprise in the Spanish colonies, al- 
though Dr. Smith says, " that projects of mining are of all 
others the most ruinous to a nation or a »ettlemerit.*' The 



Let. XXlI. ON HIStOEY. 309 

Diines of Spanish America are alwajs the property of the 
discoverer. A certain extent of ground is msosured off to 
him, and the corvees of a certain number of Indians, accord- 
ing to the regulations mentioned in speaking on that subject, 
are allotted to him on application to the government. Min- 
ing, however, is so expensive, and its success so uncertain, 
that numbers are ruined by those undertakings ; and the pro- 
duction of silver seems to be exceedingly diminished. Gold, 
on the contrary, has of late been foimd in greater abundance 
than formerly. Towards the latter end of the last century, 
so great a quantity of that metal was found in some parts of 
Spanish America as even to astonish those who were the 
most accustomed to contemplate the rich productions of those 
countries. In a rising ground, near Pampeluna, in New 
Grenada, a single laboui^- has sometimes collected to the 
amount of a thousand pesoes in one day. And a late gov- 
ernor of Santa Fe brought to Spain a lump of pure gold, esti- 
mated at the value of 740^ sterling. This largest and finest 
specimen ever found in the new world, is, according to the 
testimony x)f Dr. Robertson, deposited in the royal cabijnet 
of curiosities at Madrid. As to the silver produced in the 
old continent, we know of no very considerable mines of that 
metal. The silver mines of Styria produce a quantity, which 
adds considerably to the^ wealth of the house of Austria ; but 
not suck a quantity as can make any very perceptible addi- 
dition to the general mass of silver in circulation; and those of 
Kongsberg, in Norway, according io Mr. Cox, do no more 
than clear the expences. Silver mines, undoubtedly, exist 
in many parts of the globe, and several have been discovered 
in different countries, but (ew of them have proved worth the 
expence of working. These circumstances, collectively con- 
sidered, authorise a conjecture, that the production of gold 
will exceed that of silver ; but if the increase in the influx of 
gold be sufficient to counterbalance the decrease in that of 
silver, it will, in process of time, somewhat alter their compa- 
rative value, without making any alteration in the relative va- 
lue of money, as proportioned to the prices of the necessaries 
of life, and the various articles of European property and pro- 
duce. In this respect the discovery of America is a prima- 
ry cause, which operates on the commercial system with un- 
diminished activity to this very day, and must necessarily 
continue to exert more or less its influence to the end of time ; 



310 LETTERS Let. XXIL 

for if a period could be supposed to arrive, when all the 
mines, and c<fery source of the production of American gold 
and silver should be exhausted, the quantities already pro- 
duced and thrown into circulation, has given to navigation 
and commerce an activity, which, according to every proba- 
bility, will never cease to operate, and produced a spirit of 
enterprise and mercantile speculation which will always find 
innumerable channels of circulation, and continual opportu- 
nities of exertion. 

The effects of the discovery and colonization of America, 
are not only eminently reiriarkable and conspicuous in the 
pohtical and commercial system of the world, but also clearly 
perceptible in the state of religion. Christianity had suffer- 
ed a great defalcation of power and influence by the progress 
of Mahometanism, and the loss of those rich and extensive 
countries which composed the empire of the Caliphs. For 
these losses the Christian interest received a compensation 
by the conversion of all the northern nations of Europe. Af- 
ter the Turks had established their empire in Asia, they car- 
ried their arms into Europe, and their attempt being favour- 
ed by the continual dissensions subsisting among the Chris- 
tians, and especially by the inveterate animosity between the 
Greek and Latin churches, they made gradual encroach- 
ments upon Christendom, until at last, Constantinople, the 
impregnable bulwark of Europe against the power of the 
Caliphate, and afterwards a formidable, and for a long time 
insurmountable obstacle to the progress of the Ottoman arms, 
fell under the dominion of those Mahometans, who, at that 
time, appeared formidable to all Europe. The Christian 
power and interest suffered a considerable diminution by the 
loss of the eastern empire, and those fertile and flourishing 
countries of Greece, Macedonia, &c. which then fell under 
the Ottoman power. Christendom suffered this loss about 
the middle of the fifteenth century ; Constantinople being ta- 
ken A. D. 1453; and towards the conclusion of the same 
century received more than a tenfold compensation by the 
discovery of America, A. D. 1492; and that of a passage 
to India, round the Cape of Good Hope, only two years af- 
terwards. These discoveries, and the influx of wealth, ac- 
companied with a proportional increase of power which they 
have produced, have given to the Christian nations a decided 
preponderance in the political scale of the world; and Chris- 



Let. XXII. ON HISTORY. 311 

tianitj has acquired an extension and influence which that 
system never before possessed. Indeed, the enterprising ge- 
nius of the nations professing Christianity, and their decided 
superiority, both in arts and arms, above all the other in- 
habitants of the globe, with several other circumstances col- 
lectively considered, seem to authorise a conjecture, that the 
Christian religion may, perhaps, at some future period, be 
far more extensively propagated than at present. There 
are even some who ifuagine that Christianity will at last be 
the only established and universal religion, throughout the 
whole world ; an opinion, which, considering the moral and 
physical circumstances of mankind, does not, however, seem 
at present to rest on the basis of probability, although such 
an event would be far less extraordinary than its first propa- 
gation and establishment.^^ 

^^'hiie the Spaniards were employed in projects of dis- 
covery, conquest, and colonization, in the new world, which 
have been followed by consequences so important and inter- 
estiDg to mankind in general, the Portuguese were not less 
active in piojects of a similar nature, and of almost equal 
importance. Two years after Columbus had discovered 
America, Vasco di Gama sailed round the Cape of Good 
Hope, explored the eastern coast of Africa, and arrived 
safely on the western coast of the peninsula of India, com- 
monly called the Malabar coast. After that successful voy- 
age, the Portuguese formed a number of settlements almost 
quite round the coast of Africa, and made rich and exten- 
sive conquests under the conduct of the celebrated Alphon- 
so d'Albuqeorque, who took the city of Goa, and conquer- 

* The above remarks of Mr. B. respecting the progress and ultimate univer- 
sal prevalence of the Christian Religion, would seem to be those of some modern 
Phiioscypher, rather than of a CAmizan. He more than doubts whether " Chris- 
tianity will, at any future period, become the only established and universal reli- 
gion throughout the whole world ;" though he does not say, th:it such an event 
is iynpossibh. The Bible, one would think, is sufficiently full and explicit on this 
subject, to remove all doubt in minds that received this book as an authentic 
revelation from God. This is not the only passage in this entertaining work, 
which, to say the least, is unguardedon the subject of religion. His observations 
[p. 313. 314.] on the conduct of the celebrated L?<iAer, ^nd onthe Reformatiortf 
in effecting wliich he was made a most distinguished instrumfnt, would hardly be 
considered as coming from a protestant, and manifest no small defect in discrimi- 
nating between truth and error, between the " moderation and liberality" which 
arise from indifference to religion, and that moderation and liberality which 
are the offspring of the pure faith of the Gospel. Mr. B. appears to be a better 
historimi t\ra.u Divine. His observations, however, on the " effects of the Refor- 
mation" [p. 51 J to 317] are of a different character, and deserve commendation 
for their pertinency, correctness and good sense. J. Mobse. 



312 , LETTERS Let. XXII 

ed the whole coast of Malabar; as also Malacca and Ormus, 
and made some expeditions up the Red Sea ; and after hav- 
ing displayed extraordinary talents, both for war and gov*- 
crnment, died at Goa, A. D. 1515; leaving the Portuguese 
in possession of the whole trade of India, and Africa, and of a 
commercial empire unparalleled in the annals of preceding 
ages. This vast exteni of dominion and commerce, which 
the Portuguese so rapkily acquired, was, however, almost as 
suddenly lost after the iiingdom of Portugal was seized on by 
Philip !i. and annexed to the v^rown of Spain. The Indian 
trade, and the most valuable Fv".rtuguese settlements fell inlo 
the hands of the Hollanders, aod little more was left to Ihe 
Portuguese than the cify and island of Goa, and some of their 
settlements on the coast of Africa. 

Soon after these great and important discoveries, another 
scene of a quite different nature, but not of less importance, 
began to be exhibited in Europe. The enormous power of 
the church, which had, during so many ages, been increas- 
ing, began in many countries to be considered as an usurp- 
ed tyranny over the minds and consciences of men ; and the 
immorality as well as the tyranny of the clergy, called loud- 
ly for a reform. Many ecclesiastics and prelates of the 
church were convinced that some kind of reform in its disci- 
pline was necessary, and wished for a general council to re- 
gulate the hierarchy, and to rectify those abuses, which, 
through the imperfection of human nature, insinuate them- 
selves almost imperceptibly into every system of religion, 
and every department of human affairs. The work of refor- 
mation, however, was not undertaken, for it seldom happens 
that either a religious or political community willingly sets 
about reforming itself, until it be driven to adopt such a mea- 
sure from the pressure of some unfoieseen cause. This neg- 
lect of reforming abuses, which gradually arise in religious 
and political systems, often cause those violent reforms 
which produce consequences fatal to those systems, and sub- 
versive of the established order of things. This was the 
case of the church in the sixteenth century. The court of 
Rome imagining itself secure in the possession of unlimited 
authority and power, instead of examining the discipline of 
the church, and endeavouring to correct abuses which might 
easily have been rectified, strenuously adhered to the mea- 
sure of crushing every species of opposition by arbitrary 



Let. XXII. ON HISTORY. SIS 

sway ; and the work of reforniation, which might have been 
performed without disturbing the tranquillity oi Christendom, 
was reserved to Martin Luther, a man of a great, daring, and 
impetuous spirit, whose violent opposition to the arbitrary 
measures of the Papal See, meeting in collision with the 
pride and obstinacy of the Court of Rome, produced a di- 
vision, and effected a breach in the Christian church, which, 
according to every appearance, will never more be united. 
The Couit of Rome adhering to her arbitrary measures, re- 
solved to silence Luther by positive injunctions, which he, 
finding himself supported in his measures by a numerous 
and powerful party, boldly disregarded, and grew" more 
determined in his opposition, in proportion as the Papal See 
manifested its intention to crush him by violence. Luther, 
during a long time, professed his readiness to submit to the 
decisions of the church in a general council, and several of 
the Christian princes earnestly solicited the Pope to assem- 
ble such a council, in order to restore the tranquillity and uni- 
ty of the church. For some strange reasons, however, those 
solicitations were not comphed with, and the calling of a 
general council was always continually evaded, until at last 
the Pope, at the pressing solicitation of the Emperor Charles 
V. convoked the council of Trent, A D. 1549, thirty 
years after Luther had erected the standard of opposition, 
when his party, in that long interval of time, had acquired 
strength, and obtained the support of many princes of Ger- 
many, and other great personages ; when numbers of people, 
of every description, adhered to his doctrines, and many 
ecclesiastics had adapted his opinions, and rejected the au- 
thority of the Papal See. It was then too late to attempt to 
make up the breach by the decrees of a council, under the 
influence of Rome, when so considerable apart of the church 
already rejected the Papal authority. If a general council had 
been assembled at the commencement of those dispuies, 
there is little reason to doubt that every point might have 
been easily settled, and the tranquiHity and harmony of the 
church misiht have been restored without diificultv. There 
is every reason to think, that if a similar event should take 
place at this time in any established church, the moderation 
and liberality of sentiment which inspire Chiirtans in this en- 
lightened age, W'ould prevent those animoii^ies, which, at 
the time of the refcrmaliGn, arose amof.2: the opposite par- 

D d 



314 LETTERS Let. XXIL 

ties. That tbis is something more than conjecture, the 
events which have so recently taken place in a neighbouring 
countrj, where an opposition to the Papal authority had 
been carried to a greater height, and a moie determined hos- 
tility to Rome had been manifested, than at the period of 
the reformation, and yet mutual concessions have made up 
the breach, and conciliated all differences. If the same 
spirit of moderation had prevailed at the period of the refor- 
mation, abuses would undoubtedly have been i ectified with- 
out producing a separation of the church into different par- 
ties. But the circumstances of the present period are differ- 
ent from those of the middle of the sixteenth century. At 
that time Rome iniagined herself all powerful ; at present she 
lias learned to make a just estimate of her situation, and 
liiiows that her power and influence depends entirely on the 
|>rinces of her communion ; and the sovereign Pontiff is now 
perfectly convinced that those who profess his religion, do 
oot much regard his authority, and that whatever deference 
iiiey may have for him as a spiritual director, they will not, 
i;2 this enlightened age, submit to spiritual usurpation. 

•The effects of the reformation, like those of almost every 
oawr great event, involved a mixture of good and evil, a com- 
bination almost inseparable from the present state of humani- 
ty. Go the one hand, the obstinacy of the opposite parties, 
\; iio. instead of being actuated by Christian charity, and en- 
deavouring to conciliate differences, continually laboured to 
widen the breach, and render it irreparable ; excited the 
most deadly aoimosities, attended by the most fatal conse- 
Q^jeoces, Temporal considerations, as is commonly the 
esse in religious contests, covered themselves with spiritual 
pretexts ; and whatever might be tha intentions of some pious 
aed disiRterested individuals on both sides, who were actuat- 
ed bj a sinceie zeal for v» hat they thought to be the true reli- 
gion of Christ, many of each party, while they made the glory 
&f God, and tlie purity of religion, the ostensible object of 
their po! sviit, acted from the ioipulse of very different mo- 
wes. The leading mernber? of the reformation were desi- 
roiis to shake off th^ yoke of Roirie, while that court was re- 
snlvcd to cse CTery violent method to reduce them to sub- 
jecuo:'t» Fro?o tliisjnlernperance of party zeal, stimulated 
bj avarice a-iid aiDiiitioo, consequences shocking to retro- 
snectioo easoed. Rome thundered oot her anathemas, and 



Let. XXIL ON HISTORY. 31.^ 

kindled the flames of persecution, in order to extirpate, or at 
least to reduce to subjection those who opposed her aulhorify ; 
and the reformed party too often retaliated when ihey foimd 
themselves in possession of sufficient power. A scene of 
persecution displayed itself in almost eTery part of Europe, 
and the Protestants, divided into several diOerent seels, per- 
secuted one another, in some instances, with an animosity 
equal to that which they manifested against papal usurpation. 
The religious wars of Germany and France, as also the revolt 
of England, in the reign of the unfortunate Charles I. are me- 
lancholy proofs of the fanaticism of the sixteenth and aeven- 
teenth centuries, and of that spirit of persecution so contrary 
to Christianity, which actuated the different sects of Chris- 
tians. On contemplating the effects of the reformation, in 
another point of view", we shall, however, perceive that this 
remarkable event, after the first commotions it occaoiQiied 
had subsided, conttibuted in no small f^s^'re^ to 'uie improve- 
jEsent of the hiymzn mmcl, not only by setting it free from fae 
uncontrolable authority formerly exercised over it by spirit- 
ual judges, but also by the profound and learned investiga- 
tions which arose from those religious disputes; as in every 
subject of disquisition the collision of opposite opinions strikes 
out new sparks of genius, and affords new lights to the in- 
quisitive mind. Difficult investigations of coiiiplicated suf> 
jects, by exercising the mental faculties, ripen and invigo- 
rate the understanding. Things are viewed in new iighTs 
in v^^hich they would never have been seen, had they r<ot 
been brought forward to distinct inspection by this kind of 
mental process, and appear with a train of dependant images, 
with which they would not otherwise have been seen in con- 
nection. Whenever any question appears so interesting as 
to become a subject of general investigation and enquiry, 
reading;: and conversation furnish new ideas, which reflection 
arranges and combines. Tiiirs are new combinations formed 
in the mind, by which the sphere of human knowledge is 
enlarged, and its objects multiplied. The watchful eye of 
opposition, ever prone to censare the conduct, and expoge 
the faults of adversaries, also rendered the clergy of the differ- 
ent parties and sects of Christians more circumspect and re- 
gular in their morals than before those divisions took place. 
It was, indeed^ absolutely necessary, that the clergy of eve- 
ry denomination of Christians should regulate their moral 



316 LETTERS Let. XXiL \ 

conduct in consistency with their sacred character, in order 
to avoid exposing themselves, and their party, to the 
contempt and censure of their opponents; a degree of 
circinnspection, of which they would not, perhaps, have so 
sensibly felt fhe necessity, if there had been no adver- 
sary, v^hose censure they might apprehend. And it is a 
fact, which scarcely any one will call in qnestion, that the 
clergy of the whole Christian church are both more learned', 
and more pious, than they would have been if those divisions 
had never taken place. Difference in religious opinions, 
among men, is a circiimstahce which appears inevitable. 
Those persons who never think, may, indeed, silently and 
supinely acquiesce in any opinion proposed to their be- 
liefs ; and the .bulk of mankind assent to doctrines, which 
they cannot with propriety be said to believe, because they 
have never once bestowed a thought on them, nor ever endeav- 
oured to ascertain their truth ; but it appears absolutely im- 
possible, that thinking persons should all think alike on any 
complicated subject, especially on subjects of abstract spe- 
culation, which cannot be brought under the inspection of 
the senses. The diversity of opinion on the subject of reli- 
gion, could not, however, be productive of any bad effects, 
if men, in exercising freedom of conscience themselves, 
would allow to others the same privilege ; but it is a melan^ 
choly circumstance, that the diabolical spirit of intolerance, 
i.nd religious persecuti':n, has Kot been peculiar to one sin- 
gle party or sect, but hasinsiisuated itself into almost every sys- 
tem of religion. Those who most of all declaim against per- 
secution, when they themselves are the objects of It, seldom 
make any scruple of exercising it against others ; and when- 
ever they see themselves possessed of power, soon find a 
pretext for imposing those restraints upon others which ihey 
so bitterly complain of themselves. But, howevex men 
may deceive themselves, all pretexts of advancing the glory 
of God, or the interests of religion, by intolerant measures, 
are nugatory. God knows the weakness and incapacity of 
his finite creatures, the nature and extent of our intellectual 
powers, and the contracted limits of human comprehension, 
and looks with a compassionate eye on those errors which ori- 
ginate in a mistake of the judgment only, and not in any per- 
verseness of the will. Ought then presumptuous man to 
snatch the balance of justice from the hand of his Maker. 



Let. XXm. ON HISTOUY. 3:17 

and exercise cruelty and oppression in the name of the God of 
mercy and love; and ought not the arrogant usurpers of the di- 
vine prerogative to apprehend the most dreadful punishments ? 
The present age, however, happily displays a prospect very 
difFerentfrom the scenes exhibited in the days of fanaticism and 
religious bigotry ; and the different sects and denominations 
of Christians, if they disagree in the miriutise of opinion, or 
the ceremonial part of religion, agree in a liberality of senti^ 
ment, and a spirit of religious toleration, unparalleled in any 
former period. There are few Christian countries where 
persecution is at present carried to any great extent, and 
where it is not yet entirely extinguished, it is, however, ra- 
pidly on the decline. That we may soon see its entire ex- 
tinction, is, I fully persuade myself, as much your wish as 
that of 

Sir, yours, &c. 

.J. Bv 



LETTER XXIIL 



SIR, 



WE have now continued our review, and extended oiif 
reflections, throHgh the most striking scenes of history, and 
drawing very near to our own timeg, those we have now to 
contemplate, although less extraordinary, are not less inter- 
esting. 

Since the commencement of the world, no period has beeo 
so eminently distinguished, by a succession of great and irn 
portant events, as that which elapsed from about A. D. 
1440, and A. D. 1560, which includes the invention of 
printing, the capture of Constantinople, the discovery of 
America, and of the passage to India ; the conquest of Mex- 
ico, Peru, and other parts of the New World, and the operi- 
ing of the rich mines of those countries bf the Spaiiiards, ^nd 
the conquest of Goa, with the coast of Malabar, as well as 
of Ormus and Malacca by the Portuguese ; with the estab- 
lishment of innumerable colonies in the west by the former, 
and in the east, and on the coast of Africa, by the latter of 
these two nations ; the reformation also of religion, and th^ 

D d 2 



318 LETTERS Let. XXIIL 

aggrandizement of the House of Austria, by the union of so 
many European states, under the dominion of Charles V. 
with the augmentation of its wealth, -by the acquisition of 
the riches of the New World. Each of those great events 
were followed by a train of consequences v*^hich influence, 
in the most decided manner, t^he condition of mankind in our 
days, and will continue to have the same effect in future 
ages. To these might also be added, a number of discove- 
ries and improvements in navigation, commerce, philosophy, 
arts, sciences,- and manufactures, which were made in the 
period above-mentioned, a^id which, although of less impor- 
tance than the great transactions and events which distinguish 
that period above all otliers, as the age of enterprise, adven- 
ture, and improvement, have not been without their effects 
on the general system. Gunpowder had bees invented by a 
German priest before the nsiddle of the fourteenth century : 
but the perfection of that invention, and its various applica- 
tions, were the work of a Jater period ; and it was not until 
Ihe end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury that fire-arms, of different sorts, were brought to what 
the moderns would call a tolerable degree of perfection. 
Some are willing to believe, that fire-arms, were first used 
hy the Eiigiish, under Edward III. at the battle of Cressy, 
but this fact does not appear well authenticated ; nor is it 
more certainly known, where, or at what lime, cannon were 
first used, although ft is almost beyond the possibility of 
doubt, that gunpowder was in use among the Indians and 
Chinese many centuries before it was known to the Euro- 
peans. This discovery is, however, an important and inter- 
esting subject in military history, as it has effected a total 
change in the. military art, and iii almost all the operations of war. 
The invention of gunpowder has given occasion to a great 
deal of declamation against the introduction of so destrwctive 
a material; but it is certain, that battles, si&ges, &c. have 
been attended with far less effusion of blood since the inven- 
tion of gunpowder, and the use of fire-arms, than they com- 
monly were in former ages. The perusal of the military 
history of the ancients will establish the truth of this obser- 
vation beyond all possibility of contradiction or doubt. 

The events which have taken place since the sixteenth 
century, although many of them have been of a nature suffi- 
ciently important and interesting, have not hee<n productive 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTORY. 3i9 

of effects of such a magnitude and extent, nor had so decid- 
ed and extensive an influence on the general system of hu- 
man affairs as those which had just then taken place. The 
space of time which has elapsed since that period, affords a 
pleasing view of the extension of commerce, the diffusion of 
wealth, the advancement of civilization, the decline of reli- 
,^iou3 persecution, the introduction of humanity and liberality 
of sentiment, the rapid progress of science and literature, and 
the general advancement of every branch of human know- 
ledge. This general scene of improvement has been the ne- 
cessary consequence of the events which took place in the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and evidently shews tlie po- 
tency of those causes which then began to operate, and of 
W' JKich the influence will never be extinguished, nor the ef- 
fects exhausted. 

The transactions which have taken place among the Eu- 
ropean nations, since the middle of the sixteenth century, 
are related by a great number of historians w^ith a degree 
of accuracy, evidently surpassing any thing of the kind to be 
met with in the histories of preceding times. The limits 
here prescribed do not admit of even an enumeration of par- 
ticulars, and any thing of the kind would be useless. To 
form a just idea of the present state of the world, it is neces- 
sary to read, with attention, the best historians who treat of 
the affairs of the two last centuries. In a general review, it is not 
amiss to observe, that as we have already remarked the ag- 
grandizement of the house of Austria, in the beginnins; of the 
sixteenth century, we cannot but observe the decline of the 
Spanish branch of that house in the latter part of the same 
century, by the revolt of the Low Countries, which exhausted 
the resources of Spain, and brought into existence a new, and 
(for a long time) a formidable raarhime poAver. This revolt 
was the consequence of the violent and arbitrary measures of 
Philip li. The seven unitedprovinces,fromavaluabIe append- 
age to the crown of Spain, were converted into an hostile repub- 
lic, the most troublesome and inveterate enemy, as well as a 
dangerous rival of the maritime power of that monarchy. The 
naval force of Spain, the most formidable of all Europe, re- 
ceived also a fatal blow^nthe defeat of the invincible' Armada, 
destined by Philip for the invasion of England, A. D. 1588, 
The depression of Spaia was completed by the aggrandize- 



320 LETTERS Let. XXIiL 

ment of France, and the latter became so powerful in the 
reign of Louis the Fourteenth as to threaten the subjugation 
of Europe, and to aim at universal monarchj. The balance 
of power has, however, during the space of two centuries, 
been so well understood, and so firmlj established, as to ren- 
der those objects, in all probabihtj,^ for ever unattainable by 
any power whatever. The aggrandizement of Russia, and 
the advancement of that empire in arts, sciences, and civil- 
ization, as well as in naval and military strength and politi- 
cal importance, by the genius and efforts of the immortal 
Peter the Great, seconded by the exertions of a succession 
of great sovereigns, especially the illustrious Catherine the 
Second, is a striking circumstance in the history of the 
eighteenth century, and affords a pleasing prospect to those 
who delight in contemplating the progress of civilization, and 
the improvement of the human species. Europe could not, 
without astonishment, behold a large and elegant metropolis, 
embellished with magnificent structures, and in every respect 
suitable for the residence of a brilliant court, rising up in the 
dreary morasses of Ingria, and the swampy banks of the Ne- 
va, covered with splendid palaces, and converted into a ter- 
restrial paradise. The city of Petersburgh exhibits the most 
striking example of hii^an ifidusiry and exertion any where 
to be found. It will be a lasting monument of the enterprising 
and improving; genius of Peter the Great. 

Among the remarkable occurrences of these latter times, 
the present generation has seen a new empire burst into ex- 
istence beyond the Atlantic, which may, perhaps, one day 
equal in power, extent, and population, any of the ancient 
empires, that of Rome not excepted. The establishment of 
the American republic is an event which must, in succeed- 
ing ages, be productive of very important consequences. It 
is beyond the reach of human foresight exactly to ascertain 
the nature, or determine, with any tolerable degree of pre- 
cision, the extent of those remote consequences, although 
some of them appear to flow so. necessarily from the state of 
ihe American world, as to afford grounds of conjecture which 
can hardly admit of mistake. 

There is not the least reason to doubt but the Anglo- 
Americans will, in process of time, extend their empire 
over the whole continent of Am^erica, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific ocean^ and &om the fertji€g4 ht^bitabl^ regions of the 



Let. XXIiL ON HISTORY. 321 

North to ihe Gulph of Mexico; but whether their dominions 
will contmce to constitute one vast republic, or whether 
they w ill be spilt into a number of independent, unconnected, 
and hostile states, is what cannot be foreseen. It is impossi- 
ble to foresee what reyolulions may take place in the transat- 
lantic quarter of the globe. In the old continent we have 
seen empires rise, flourish, decline, and sink into non-exist- 
ence ; monarchies have been changed into republics, and 
republics into monarchies ; and it is hardly reasonable to 
suppose, that America will for ever be exempted from those 
commotions which have so frequently agitated the 
other quarters of the globe. After the lapse of some centu- 
ries, America will no longer be what it is at present. The 
Imniense wilderness of the interior will then be ail in a high 
state of cultivation. Its vast uninhabited tracts will be over- 
spread with a crowded population, and filled with villages 
and populous towns. America will then be what Europe is 
now ; and who can foresee what revolutions may take place ; 
what factious demagogues may usurp the sovereign authority; 
what new forms of government may be established ; what 
new republics or monarchies may arise ? These events are 
concealed in the eternal prescience of the Deity, and the vo- 
lume of futurity is a sealed book. It is, however, difficult to 
suppose that the North American empire will, after the 
lapse of some centuries, remain united in one federal govern- 
ment as at present. 

Without expatiating too far in the boundless regions of 
conjecture, the natural course of things, and the necessary 
connection of moral circumstances, will authorise the predic- 
tion of some consequences which must infallibly ensue from 
that immense population, extenty and aggrandizement, to 
which the North American empire, whether united or divid- 
ed, will one day most certainly attain. It has been already 
observed, and indeed the circumstance is two obvious to es- 
cape observation, that the influx of gold and silver from the 
mines of the new world has, by diminishing the relative value 
of those metals, the standard by which the value of every 
other kind of property is estimated, had a more decided and 
visible influence on the commercial system than any other 
event which has ever occurred in human affairs. This in- 
flux of wealth, the production of the American mines, which, 
from the ports of Lisbon and Cadiz, is circulated throughout 



322 LETTERS Let. XXIIL 

all Europe, and most of the countries where the Europeans 
have colonies or connexions, is an active cause continaallj 
operating on commerce in all its numerous and ramified de- 
tails, and influencing the value of European produce and 
property. The activity of this patent and continually ope- 
rating cause will, according to every observable appear- 
ance, continue as long as the world itself shall exist; but al- 
though its influence will, in all probability, never be extin- 
guished, the time will undoubtedly come when it must un- 
dergo a very great change in its direction. When the North 
American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean , 
and from the Polar Circle to the Mexican Gulph, shall be 
crowded with an active, industrious, and numerous people, 
flourishing in arts and sciences, commerce, and manufactures, 
there is no doubt but it will attract by commerce, or, per- 
haps, appropriate to itself by conquest, the mines of Mexico, 
and, very probably, a great part of the productions of those 
of Peru and Terra Firma. Tills arrangement wiii certainly 
one day or other, take place, although it be now beyond the 
reach jof conjecture to fix the period when so important a 
change in the political and commercial system will arrive, or 
to foresee what causes may either accelerate or retard its ap- 
proach. 

This great and important change will, however, be gradu- 
ally introduced, as the causes from which it must originate 
will gradually acquire strength and efficacy ; for the increase 
of population, the establishment of manufactures, &c. in the 
North Am.erican continent must be a work of time, perhaps 
of some centuries ; and its advancement or retardment will 
depend on a variety of moral and physical circonistances. 
It is, however, easy to foresee, that whenever that period 
shall arrive, the influx of gold and silver into Europe being 
considerably diminished, the consequence must be a gradual 
depressionof the value of European property, unless some 
other cause, at present impossible to foresee, shall effectually 
counteract the influence of this decrease in the influx of 
American wealth into the old continent. 

Another striking, and to an Englishman a not less pleasing 
circumstance, in the history of these latter times, is the ra- 
pid and extraordinary increase of the commerce and naval pow- 
er of Great Britain, which, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
began to rise from insignificancy into importance, until it at- 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTORY. 323 

fracted the notice and admiration of Europe by the defeat 
of the Spanish Armada. Th^ marine of this country has 
been, ever since that period, in ,a progressive state of im- 
provement ; but it, is only since the peace of Aix la Chappelle 
that it has become so formidable as to be able to bid defi- 
ance to the united naval strength of the whole world. The 
natural consequence of this naval superiorit}^ is the uncontrol- 
able sovereignty of the seas, settlements in every part of the 
globe, and a commerce more extensive than that of any 
other nation. The most considerable part of the trade to the 
East Indies and China is now in the hands of the English ; 
and the East India Company is in possession of a territory 
of greater extent than the united kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland. According to Rennel, the possessions of the En- 
glish in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, contain no less than an 
hundred and fifty thousand square miles ; and the district of 
Benares twelve thousand more ; so that the British empire 
in India contains an hundred and sixty-two thousand square 
miles, which is thirty thousand square miles more than the ag- 
gregate content of Great Britain and Ireland ; and its popula- 
tion amounts to nearly eleven millions ; besides a number of 
detached forts and settlements not included in this calcula- 
tion. Without indulging any sentiment of national partiality or 
prejudice, it cannot but be evident to every observer, whe- 
ther friend or enemy, that Great Britain at this time exhibits 
a spectacle of naval strength and commercial opulence, to 
which the world has never afforded any parallel. 

The last important and interesting scene which has taken 
place on the moral theatre of the world, is the French revo- 
lution, of which the recency and general notoriety of circum- 
stances preclude the necessity of investigation or comment. 
It may only in general terms be observed, that it has been an 
extraordinary and unprecedented attempt to overturn the 
Christian religion, and the political system of Europe ; and 
its termination has not been less remarkable than the pro- 
ject was singular. After a long struggle between infidelity 
and revealed religion, in which the former had, during a long 
time, a visible ascendency, the contest has, through tiie good 
sense of the nation and its rulers, acting under the direction 
of Divine Providence, terminated in the triumph and re-estab- 
lishment of Christianity, upon the broad and rational basis of 
universal liberty of conscience. We have seen the com- 



324 LETTERS Let. XXIIL 

mencement and the termination of a war which ensued in con- 
sequence of this extraordinary, rerohjtion ; a war which ought 
to be marked with letters of blood in the annals of France and 
Austria, which has augmented the national debt of England 
to an unexampled amount, and, like many other remarkable 
occurrences, has displayed, in the most conspicuous and strik- 
ing point of view, the shortness of all political foresight, and 
the extreme uncertainty of all human expectancy. No war, 
perhaps, has ever occurred in which so many (extraordinary 
and unexpected vicissitudes have happened in so short a 
space of time, as in the war between France and the combin- 
ed powers. The exertions of the republic have been with- 
out parallel in the history of nations ; and notwithstanding the 
victories, the conquests and triumphs of Rome, every one, 
who is conversant in ihe history of the Romans, will find him- 
self obliged to conte :-, that the most extraordinary military 
exertions of that celebrated people never equailed those of 
the French republic, nor produced such great and decisive ej^ 
fects in so short a space of time. While the repitblic, how- 
ever, has been gathering its laurels, it has bled at every pore, 
and the glorious names of Mantua and Marengo cannot dry 
up the tears of the widows and orphans of France. 

While the French republic was exciting the admiration of 
Europe by a scene of unparalleled exertion. Great Britain 
was in no less a degree signalizing herself as the only power 
able to resist its tremendous efforts. At that momentous 
crisis, Britain exhibited herself the bulwark of Europe, and 
displayed in a distinguished manner her liberality of senti- 
ment and her spirit of universal benevolence, in the gener- 
ous protection and support of the persecuted clergy of a 
foreign country, and of a different communion ; a circumstance 
which redounds as much to her glory, as the conquest of 
Egypt, the forcing of the passage of the Sound, or any 
other of her great military or naval achievements. 

No wars which has ever happened, nor indeed any politi- 
cal measures in which this or any other nation ever engaged, 
have, perhaps, more forcibly altrat:ted the public attention, 
©r given rise to a greater diversity of opinion, than the two 
memorable contests with the American colonies and the French 
republic. Each, in its turn, was debated in the British Par- 
liament with all the dexterity of argument which the human 
understandiog is capable, and with all the energy and fioridi- 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTORY. 325 

fy of stile which the ori8n(aI art can si'pplj. Burke, Fitf, 
Fox, and Slieridan, with oianj others of our Brit'sh orator?, 
Iiave disputed tlie prize wifh Cicero and Deiuosthenes, and 
the rest of the eelebrated orators of . Greece and Rosne^ 
vvhoses'peeches have always be cnesteemsd master-pieces of 
eloquence, and the standard of rhetorical perfection, 

it was not, however, in the 5er<ale alone that those import- 
ant points were discisssed. The spirit of political investigation 
insinuated itself into eTevj corner, and agiiated the public 
mind bejond ail example, hi every countrj, and on almost 
every occasion, the people, allhoogh possessing neither the abili- 
ties nor information necessary to qualify them forexaniining the 
conduct of those in power, are ready to censwre their mea- 
sures, and to ascribe the existence of every political evil to 
the misconduct of administration. Those who rashly con- 
demn the conduct of tlicir rulers ought seriously to considef 
the difficulties of their situation, arising from the perpetual 
vicissitudes of political affairs, which depend on so multifa- 
rious a train of complicated and changeable circumstances, 
sometimes increasing, sometimes counteracting one another's 
influence, so as to produce consequences which no human 
prudence ca/? foresee. 

If the multitude were- capable of investigating ihe unfore- 
seen difficulties daily arising in political affairs, and of mak- 
ing a just and impartial estimate, they would not so hastily 
condemn the measures of government ; and a candid enqui- 
rer, instead of rashly censuring the conduct of ministers, 
would consider the difficulties of their situation, and, per- 
haps, discover the impracticability of his own groundless and 
visionary theories. 

The increasing prevttlence of revolutionary principles, 
and the traitorous machinations of the jacobioicai party at 
borne, laid the British government under the necessity of 
breaking off all communication with a country where the re- 
volutionizing system carried all before if, and domineered 
v;ith an uncontroiabie sway. Upon the whole, when the po- 
litical circumstances of Europe, at that mornenious crisis, are 
duly considered, the situation of Great Britain appears to 
liave been extremely critical ; and candid impartiality, un- 
influenced by passion or prejudice, or by any bias towards 
either exculpation or censure, must confess that her minis- 

E e 



323 LETTERS Let. XXIII. 

teis stood in a predicament wholly unprecedented and diffi- 
ciiit beyond ail example. 

Those who are prone to censure too hastily the conduct 
of other men, in difficult and important affairs, ought to con- 
sider, that it is absolutely uncertain whether different mea- 
sures would have been more successful, or have produced 
greater advantages. The certainty of our knowledge, in 
regard to the effects of moral causes, and of the consequen- 
ces of human conduct, depends only on experience. We 
can see the consequences of what has been done, but can- 
not perceive those which might have proceeded from a con- 
trary line of conduct. The consequences of moral actiont 
are known only after the experiment has been made ; but 
those of untried theories exist only in the imagination. The 
consequences of the war with France are known, but those 
which would have proceeded from adhering to a pacific sys- 
tem can never be knov/n, because the experiment was not 
made ; and therefore the grand question of the propriety or 
iaipropriety of the war m.ust, like many other political ques- 
tions, as well as several relating to private life, remain for 
ever undecided.'^ 

It cannot be denied, that the national debt of this country 
has been increased to an unparalleled magnitude in conse- 
qaence of the extraordinary expenditure incurred in that 
war ; and the taxes have been necessarily increased in pro- 
portion to the pressure of the national burden, compounded 
of the interest of that debt, increased in proportion to the 
national exigencies. In speculative theory this is a most 
foimi'Jable evil, which, after an accurate examination of cir- 
cumstances, will not, however, be found to exist in reality to 
that alarming magnitude in which it appears in a superficial 
view. 

Taxation is a thing universally murmured against, and yet 
hut little iiniserstood. The disaffected and the ignorant of 
every country have considered it as a grievance, and the 
facl'ious deoiagogues and rin;:>:-leaders of sedition have never 
faika to Loake the burden of the taxes a subject of declama- 
tiin, in oider to impose upon the igiiorant multitude, and to 
cover their own shiister designs with the specious pretext of 



* It sliO'ild be observed, that these letters were written in the short interval of 

ijeaci^ between the iu^t and Lsreseut war. 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTORY. 327 

redressing public grievances. It is an undeniable fact, that 
taxes have an immediate influence on ihe articles of the pub- 
lic consumption, whether of necessity, or convenieiic}^, or 
luxury ; for the value of the whole national corisumptioii is 
always augmented by the aggregate sum of the interest of th-3 
national debt, and the annual expenditure. This augmenta- 
tion of the value of the national cousumption is the piincipal 
and most determinate effect of taxation. The supposition 
that high taxes impoverish a nation is a mistake. Whaler er 
taxes are levied in any country, if they be expended m tlie 
national produce, cannot impoverish it; ihey only cause ::. 
more vigorous circulation, as the money tl-iis levied m ihc. 
country flows back into it by a thousand diffeient clianiiels. 
This is in a great measure the case with England. In peace 
and war the bulk of the money raised by taxation flows back 
into the country. The produce of our own country, and it^ 
colonies, furnisli most of the articles used in the equipment 
and victualling of our fleets and armies. The salaries of 
almost all w^bo hold employments under goveniment are 
expended at home, in some part of the British dominioos ; 
and the building of our ships, as well as the maoufactisdrsg of 
arms, &c. employs numbers of our mechanics. It is tvuef 
we import masts, cordage, hemp, iron, and several other arti- 
cles used in the construction of vessels; hut this contributes 
to stimulate trade, and create a market for our osvu produce 
and manufactures, which foreign nations could not afford to 
take off our hands, if we in return did not rake a proporfioaaie 
quantity of theirs. 

The effects of taxes, in advancing the prices of articles of 
consumption cannot be denied ; but the nation is not on that 
account any poorer, nor the low^er classes of the people moie 
oppressed ; for the value of produce, and the price of labour, 
will advance in proportion. This delineation of the case is 
obviously founded in reason, and its truth is confirmed by 
experience; for it is an unquestionable fact, that since the 
existence of a great national debt, and the increase of taxes, 
the middling and lower classes of the people live much bet- 
ter than they did before. 

It has already been observed, and is, indeed, too obvious 
a fact to escape observation, that the influx of gold and siivrr 
from America was the principal and primary cause of the ex 
traordinary advancement, which has, since the discovery of 



S2U LETTERS Let. XXIll. 

that t'02]tiiie?if, taken plare in ihe x-hie of European producQ, 
which, ::::; rl .;u:st :;; r,>i: : ,; • e ^he case, advanced in 

proportion as the hiciease oi ihe qiuuiiify of gold and siivej* 
cansed a din-inifjbn in the relative Talue bt* -hose meta!^. 
From i}ih clicuu\A\:inc2 it h eyideat, tlmt if the qnantifj qi 
circdalifig cash weie doused, (lie value of property, iti gen- 
eral, would also be Jynble^; bnl if It were diminished, in that 
or any ofiif^;- ralm, the general vabie of property would de- 
^f^asd hi ihe sa-iie proportioo; tlic> activity of commerce is 
giTected cot oiily by the existing €piantiiy. of money in circd- 
lation, but also by any tiling used to represent it; and estafe- 
iished credit operaies in ihis respect in the same manner as 
circLiiatino' cash, of which, not only the public funds, of which 
the securities are transferable, but also every kind of paper 
currency is a substitute and representation, and all contribute 
to facilitate commerce, and to stimulate exertion. 

It has by some been remai'ked, that the national debt of 
Great Britain, amounting to so vast a sum, and consequently 
her annual expenditure being very great, a larger sum must 
foe raised by taxation in this coimtry than in any other of the 
same population and extent. AdmittiRg this to be true, it is, 
liGweyer, a truth not less worthy of observation, that the ex- 
penditure of a nation, as well as its ability, to support this ex- 
penditure, depeqCiS on its wealth, and not on the population, 
much less on the extent of its territories. The reason why 
the expences of Great Britain are greater than those of other 
nations is evidently becau.ae she is more wealthy. In coun- 
tries where money is scarce, and trade lein^ui^^hiiig, every 
thing is cheap, the stipend of ihe soldier h low, as well, as 
the wages of the mechanic and the labourer ; the salaries an- 
nexed to public employmeiifs of every description are small, 
and every article of the national expences is low in propor- 
tion. In countries where one shilliog will go as far as three 
in England, the same civil and miliiary establishments may 
be kept up at one third of the expence requisite for that pur^ 
pose in this country; but one shilling paid in taxes by the 
subject is as heavily felt as three shillings by an P^nglishman? 
This is exemplified in the most luminous manner by the tej 
spective revenue and expenditure of England and Kussia^ 
The revenue of the latter is, by Mr. Cox, one of the most 
intelligent and observing of our miodern travellers, and a ju- 
dicious writer, estimated at the amount of 6,200,000/. ster- 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTORY. 829 

ling, and cannot be computed at more than seven miilions 
sterling. Yet, with this revenue, which does not amount to 
one fourth of the annual revenue of Great Britain, Russia is 
able to maintain an army of about 400,000 cavalrj and iz> 
fantr J, exclusive of her fleets, which are not inconsiderate ; 
and not only to maintain a preponderating influence in the 
political balance of Europe, and to carry on the operations 
of war and government with energy, and on the most extea- 
Bive scale, but also to expend immense suaas on the erection 
of magnificent edifices, and to exhibit an appearance of pjib- 
lie splendor at least equal to that of any in Europe ; besides 
having enough left for the reward of merit, the promotion of 
arts and sciences, and literature, and every other purpose 
deserving the attention of government. If the produce of 
the farmer, the wages of the artisan and the labourer, and the 
stipend of the soldier were as high, or, in other words, if 
money were as plentiful in Russia as in England, the govern- 
ment of that empire would be obliged to levy four or five 
times as great a sum upon its subjects as it does at present^ 
and still be scarcely able to cover its expenditure, and to 
make such wonderful exertions as it has frequently made in 
the pursuits both of war and peace. 

From the foregoing considerations, it evident !y appearSj 
even beyond a possibility of contradiction or dippiite, that 
the enormous height of the taxes of Gicat Britain are a iw^ 
cessary consequence of her immense wealthy and that no peo 
pie whatever have so little right to murmur against xh&r 
taxes as the Biitish subject, because none are so able io yrj 
them: and also, because Britons, in return for the 'jioo'^'v 
they pay for the support of their government, enjoy a seci- 
rity, and protection of person and property, unlncwn under 
any of the ancient, and equal at least, if not supenoij to any 
advantages of the kind to be met with under any of the rijo- 
dern governments. It is also to be observed, that the BAihh 
subjects, not to mention the privilege they enjoy of luipos'iig 
their own taxes by the voice of their represeniatives, arc, i?i 
a great measure, left to their own choice to deternihie hwv 
much they will pay ; for, excepting the land-tax, which is un- 
avoidable, the other taxes being mostly laid upon the ai ticks 
of consumption, or of optional use, the subject may at any 
time, by diminishing his consumption, or leaving oiF the ijs?e 
of certain coBveniences, or luxuries, diffiinish the aincunt of 

Ee 2 



330 LETTERS Let. XXIIL 

bis taxes, which could not be done iintlcr the system of capi- 
tation assessment, instituted among the Romans, and in use 
in some modern nations. And if the national debt were ex- 
tinguished, and taxes conkl be abolished, it is questionable 
whether the coijntrj would, on that account, be much richer. 
The value of the natio*ial prodiice and national property 
would be diminished ; but the lower classes of the community 
would not derive any advantage from that circumstance, as 
the price of labour would suffer a proportionate decrease. 

it would therefore seem, that the nioney levied by taxa- 
tion, if spent in the produce of the country, flows back to 
the sources from which it was originally drav.-n, and as that 
part of it which is spent in foreign produce tends to give ac- 
tivi-ty and vigour to commerce, a great national debt, and the 
increase of taxes, which must be the necessary consequence 
if the poyment of a grea.t%nnual interest, Zive evils of a much 
less ma^^iiiliide than they are generally represented. Perhaps 
it might, upon a critical and accurate investigation, be made 
to appear, that the principal and almost the only real and 
r.crisider&LIe evil of taxes consists in their efFectg on home 
produce and oianufaclures, by their iiTesistible tendency to 
advance (he pri-ce of prorhlocs ; ibi' it is an obvious case, 
that ihe artizao or msDulactLirer, who cannot, while working 
up his article, support hiiijjselt tor le^s than half a crown per 
diem, will not be able to afiurd the manufactured commodity, 
at so low a price a3 he who can maintain himself for eighteen 
pence or a shliling, supposing they both pay the same price 
for the raw ma'erial; and consequently, when the goods are 
^:rc-;;-:t to c^arks;, lh:3 latter wiO, by underselling, take 
away the trade of the former, who cannot stand against such 
a competitor, unless he can coujite£;balarice the disadvantage 
by the superiority of workmanship ; or else, by the posses- 
sion of a large capital, and a well established trade, be ena- 
bled (o carry on his business on a niore commodious and ex- 
tensive scale, and coiiseqitenily to trade for less clear profit, 
on account of ilia extenslveness of his sale. As the same 
chcnmhjtances must operate in the same manner on the la- 
boLirs of a Diiilicn of workmen, as on those of a single indi- 
vidual,, the meat dangerous consequence, therefore, to be 
apprehended from high taxes, is, 'that the nation which is 
highly taxed, shoLdd, by reason of the advanced price of the 
necessaries of life, be iijiable to sell its manufactures and 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTOR¥. 331 

other exports at the same price in foreign markets as other 
nations among whom the rate of living is lower. Whenever 
two trading nations, thus circumstanced, are rivals in the 
same kind of manufactures, and export the same species of 
merchandise, whose workmen cannot be maintained but at an 
expensive rate, that will be un('erstood in the foreign mar- 
kets bj its rival, whose artizans and manufacturers can be 
more cheaply supported ; unless, as in the case of individu- 
als, the disadvantage be counterbalanced by superior skill in 
workmanship, or by a greater capital, and more extensive 
trade. This is at present the case with Great Britain ; her 
manufacturers work at a higher rate than those of other coun- 
tries, but they do a greater quantity of work, and do it bet- 
ter ; and for this reason her manufactures are held in great 
esteem, and fetch good prices in foreign countries. The 
commerce of Britain is also supported by an immense capital,, 
and carried on upon a more extensive scale than that of any 
other nation. She has likewise this advantage, that if the 
high price of labour obliges her to sell her productions and 
manufactures to foreigners at a high rate, her opulence and 
extensive trade enable her to afford them good prices for 
such of their commodities as she imports for her own con- 
sumption. 

That a great national debt, and high taxes, its inseparable 
concom-ilants, originate chiejBy from the expences incur- 
red by waa", is an undeniable fact ; and these are generally 
esteemed the most pernicious consequences which a system 
cf hostility produces. If therefore it be made to appear 
that these are nominal, rather than real evils, or at least evils 
of a much less magnitude than is commonly supposed, the 
question will naturally be asked, — How then can war be so 
dreadful a calamity as it is generally represented? This 
question, however, might, with great propriety, be answered 
by asking another to the following purport : — Is the efinsioii 
of human blood a trivial matter? the destruction of the hu- 
man species a concern of little importance ? are the tears of 
widows and orphans trifles, which merit not attention? or 
is the account which every one, who commences or promotes 
hostilities merely from motives of avarice, ambition or seif- 
aggrandisement, must render to that Supreme Judge, who, 
" at the hand of every man's brother, will require the life of 
man," to be esteemed a subject of trifling consideration ? 



332 BETTERS Lej, XXIIL 

In a political, as well as a moral view, the evils of war 
are far from being inconsiderable. The wealth and prosper- 
ity of a state must necessarilj be increased in proportion as 
its subjects are exercised in useful and profitable employ- 
ments ; and the riches of every community will be augment- 
ed in proportion to the number of its members who are thus 
employed. It must then certainly be a deplorable misfor- 
tune to mankind, that in every period, from the earliest ages, 
so considerable a number of the most active and useful sub- 
jects of every state should have been employed in no other 
business than the destruction of their fellow-creatures. To 
the loss of so much useful labour, which might have been of 
the greatest benefit to the community, may also be added, 
that of great quantities of provisions, &c. which are often de- 
stroyed by the enemy, or by being transported from place to 
place, and laid up for a long time in magazines, are render- 
ed useless, and consequently are not consumed but wasted. 

In perusing the ensanguined page of history, the feeling 
reader cannot but lament the horrible effects of those war« 
which have so often desolated the finest countries, and in- 
volved numbers of unhappy sufferers in a widely extended 
scene of calamity. It seems, however on considering the 
circumstances of the world, and the imperfections of human 
nature, that frequent hostiliUes are an evil inseparable from 
the present state of humanity. In particular states and com^ 
munities there exists a legislative authority which enacts laws 
and regulations, in order to restrain the inordinate passions 
and reconcile the jarring iuterests of its members, and like- 
wise an executive power to enforce obedience. It is evi- 
dent, that without such restraints society could not subsist. 
But when disputes arise between nations, there is no su- 
preme tribunal on earth to which they can appeal. The 
decision must consequently be by the sword. 

It appears, therefore, that wars may be ranked among 
those mysterious dispensations of Providence, by which the 
restless passions of mankind, in their baneful effects, produce 
their own punishment. However, as war is so deplorable a 
calamity, and the wanton destruction of the human species, 
a crime for which the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, the 
Creator and Judge of man, has expressly declared, that he 
will not fail to take vengeance, nothing but imperious neces- 
sity call justify human beyigs in the infliction of so dreadful 



Let. XXIIL ON HISTORY. 333 

an evil on their fellow mortals. Present war must have 
for its object the insurance of future tranquillity ; and if its 
operation be offensive, its principle must be defensive, or 
else it is unjust. 

The funding system \s one of those discriminating features 
which distinguish the modernii^system of politics from that of 
the ancients, and is, in many respects, far preferable. In 
the ancient system, both the ordinary and extraordinary ex- 
pences were collected at the time when they were wanted, 
and, on great emergencies, fell heavy upon the subjects, 
who were often ill prepared to maet those extraordinary and 
unexpected requisitions. Sometimes it was found impossi- 
ble to raise the sums requisite for the service of the state ; 
and v/e frequently hear of armies being disbanded in the most 
critical moments of public exigency, and even on the eve of vic- 
tory and conquest, for want of the means of supporting and 
paying them. The national treasures, when thus collect- 
ed, were also liable to be seized by usurpers and rebels, of 
which we have several instances in ancient history. These, 
and many other evils, are either wholly removed, or at least 
exceedingly diminished, by the funding . system, which es- 
tablishes a regular mode of proportioning the national reve- 
nue to the public expenditure, and providing for any extraor- 
dinary exigency of the state, without making oppressive, ex- 
orbitant, and unexpected demands on the subject, with which 
it might, perhaps be, in some cases, impossible to comply. 

It may be objected, that the natural operation of the fund- 
ing system is to impose the increasing burdens on posterity. 
This objection, however, loses all its force, when it is con- 
sidered, that together with the national debt, the greatest na- 
tional advantages are also transmitted to succeeding genera- 
tions. In conjunction with an increased public debt, each 
existing generation transmits to that succeeding it, the inher- 
itance of a mass of political and social advantages, a country 
more highly cultivated, a commerce more extended, arts and 
sciences more improved, society more civilized, and the 
possession of all those blessings secured by an excellent con- 
stitution, founded on the surest principles of public justice 
and rational liberty. On succeeding to so noble an inheri- 
tance, posterity cannot murmur at finding it encumbered 
with a mortgage, which does not diaiinish its real value, 



•^34 LETTERS Let. XXIII. 

and which has been contracted with a view of improving the 
patrimony. 

As the funding sjstem is peculiar to modern finance, and 
was unknown to the ancients, so has the balance of power, 
ever since the extraordinary aggrandisement of the house of 
Austria, under Charles Y. been ?. leading consideration in 
the general sjstem of European politics, and an object for 
which oceans of blood have been spilt. Thousands, and it 
may, without ejtaggeration, even be said, millions of human 
victims have been sacrificed on the altar of this phantom, 
which seems now to have disappeared. The smaller, and, 
indeed, some of the gieater powers, appear to have little in- 
fluence in the political system ; and Great Britain, France, 
and Russia seem to be the only three powers, which, in time 
to come, will cast the political scale and determine the fate 
of the world, until the North American empire shall acquire 
the same ascendency in the new world, which those powers 
appear likely to possess on the old continent. 

As those already mentioned are some of the most con- 
spicuous features in the political aspect of ^e World, so does 
the rapid progress of civilization, and all its appendages, 
make a distinguished figure in the picture of modern society. 
We have already seen how a conrpllcated traim of causes 
have operated, through a long succession of ages, to ad- 
vance or retard the civilization and improvement of the hu- 
man species. The progress of liberty, the advancement oi 
knowledge, the invention or improvement of arts, sciences, 
and manufactures, the extension of commerce, the discovery 
of America, and the influx of wealth from that quarter, con- 
stitute a combination of causes, which, by a reciprocal and 
united operation, have produced this great effect, the civili- 
sation of modern Europe. 

One visible and necessary consequence of this general 
civilizatiouj is the diffusion of opulence, and consequently of 
luxury, among the people. The prevalence of luxury, 
among al! ranks of people, in modern Europe, has furnished 
an ample subject of declamation to self authorised reformers, 
moralists, and petty politicians. In reality, it is, however, 
BO more than a natural consequence of the advancement of 
^civilization, and the acquisition of richest, in co-operation with 
that universal principle of human nature, which excites men 
to enjoy wht^t they posaess, Tho^e declaimers remind usj 



Let. XXIIL ON HISTORY. 335 

that luxury caused the downfall of the greatest empires of the 
ancient world, and from thence would infer, that its effects 
will be the same on the nations of modern Europe ; but it 
does not appear to have been the luxury of the people, but 
that of an effeminate court, which occasioned, or at least, ac- 
celerated the fall of the Babylonian, Persian, and some other 
mcnarchies. That species of luxury which is diffused 
throughout a whole nation, and exists among the middle and 
lower classes of the people, has not that fatal tendency ; but 
is, on the contrary, the prin cipal support of trade and manu- 
factures, and the grand stimulus of national and individual in- 
dustry. 

There is also another essential difference between the 
governments and political systems of the ancients and those 
of the moderns ; the former, for the most part, owed their 
opulence, as well as their aggrandizement, to conquest ; and 
when the military enthusiasm, to which they owed their 
greatness, had subsided, they often fell a prey to the first 
barbarous invader. The nations of modern Europe^ on the 
contrary, ov*^e their wealth, and most of their advantages, to 
commerce ; and if luxury produce indolence among a people, 
w hose genius and politics are entirely military, it excites in- 
dustry, and rouses exertion, in a commercial nation. It is 
not luxury, therefore, but supineness and indolence, which 
are baneful to a state. The luxury and splendor of a court 
are not incompatible with an attention to public affairs ; nor 
the luxury of individuals inconsistent with the management 
of their private affairs. The popular declaimers against the 
Apolitical and moral vices of the times would do well to con- 
sider, that as luxury cannot properly be defined, any thing 
else than an extravagant expenditure, too great for the cir- 
cumstances of the party on whom the imputation is fixed, it 
is not easy to determine what is luxury in different situations 
of life ; for what is luxury in one is bare convenience in anoth- 
er. Luxury always begins where convenience ends, but it 
is often difficult to fix the line of demarkation. 

After contemplating the state of that part of the moral sys- 
tem, with which we are the most acquainted, and in which we 
are the most interested, if we extend our observations still far- 
ther, and take a more comprehensive view of human nature, 
"influenced and modified by political and religious systems, in- 
tellectiral theories, and social habits ; although we see Chria- 



336 LETTERS Let. XXili 

tianity daily acquiring a greater extension, bj reason of the 
vast empire on the Spaniards, and the increasing power of 
the Noi th American republic beyond the Atlantic, as also 
by the aggrandizement of the Russian empire, which now ex- 
tends over all the northern regions of Asia, as well as by the 
colonies and missionaries of Great Britain, and other Euro- 
pean nations ; yet we see the greatest part of Asia, and almost 
the whole of Africa, under the power of despotism and th(?, 
influence of superstition. All the norlhern parts of Africa, 
with Egypt, Arabia, the Turkish dominions, Persia, a great 
part of India and Tartary, are in the profession of the Maho- 
metan religion, while a still greater part of the Indians and 
Tartars adhere to those of the Bramins, and of the Lama 
of Thibet. The inhabitants of the vast and populous coun- 
tries of China, Japan, Tonquin, and Cochin China, adhere 
to the various systeais of Foe or Confucius, or else to that 
of Thibet ; and each of the systems, established among these 
oriental nations, branches out into a number of subdivisions. 
The extensive countries of Siam, Pegu, Av^, &c. situated 
to the east of the bay of Bengal, have systems of their own 
equally absurd; and the vast interior and southern parts of 
Africa, except the empire of Abyssinia, where the religion is 
composed of a mixture of Judaism and Christianity, and 
perhaps of some Mahometao superstitions, are immersed in 
the depths of religious and intellectual barbarism. We know 
but little of the political and religious systems established in 
many of the countries just mentioned. They are seldom vi- 
sited by intelligent travellers, and history aiTords us no infor- 
mation relative to the origin or reformation of their different 
religious or political systems. We know, however, enough 
to see, that after such a long succession of ages, mankind 
emerge but slowly from barbarism and ignorance ; and that 
the illuminating radiance of Christianity, as yet, shines only 
on a small part of the human race. 

Among the innumerable historical and moral questions 
which might be propounded, and v.'hich it is impossible to 
solve, the reason might be demanded why there exists such 
a difference in the intellectual improvements of different na- 
tions, and why the arts and sciences, literature and civiHza- 
tion, have made so great a progress in some, countries, while 
others have scarcely yet emerged from their primeval igno- 
rance. The most remaj'kable links of that 2:reat chain of 



Let.xxiil on history. sar 

causes and effects, which has produced this distinction 
among the nations, ancient and modern, with whose history 
we have any acquaintance, are tolerably conspicuous. The 
circumstances which caused the rise, the progress, and 
the decHne of the arts and sciences, and literary know- 
ledge, in Babylon and Egypt, as well as among the 
Greeks and Romans, and since among the modern Euro- 
peans, are sufficiently distinguishable among the crowd of 
moral occurrences which fill the pages of history ; and by 
the effects they have produced, diversify, with innumera- 
ble shades, the ever varying picture of human existence. 
Of the history of many other nations, however, we are to- 
tally ignorant ; but some of them do not appear to have ever 
made any advancement beyond the arts of necessity ; in 
some we perceive a regard to conveniency, and in others a 
certain degree even of luxury, but with a very small pro- 
gress in intellectual improvement. Some nations, ag the 
Hindoos and Chinese, appear to have made considerable 
advances in scientific and literary knowledge, and in the arts 
and embellishments of civilized life, at a very early period. 
It is beyond a doubt, that those oriental nations had made no 
inconsiderable improvements in those things before almost 
any marks of civilization were disceverable among the most 
polite of the modern nations of Europe, and in^all probabili» 
ty before the Romans, or the Greeks themselves, had made 
any great progress in knowledge ; yet neither scientific nor 
literary improvements were ever carried to such a pitch 
among the Eastern nations as among the Greeks, the Ro- 
mans, and the modern Europeans; but, on the contrary, 
seem to have long remained stationary in those coimtries. 
The decline of the Hindoo learning, in the latter ages, may 
readily be accounted for, by the circumstance of the sub- 
version of their political power and importance, and their 
subjection to the yoke of the Tartar invaders, who estab- 
lished the Mahometan religion, and the Mogul empire in In- 
dia, and rendered that celebrated country for many ages a 
theatre of revolutions and of crimes. But it is difficult to 
find a satisfactory reason, why the Chinese, after having, at 
a very early period, made greater progress in science and 
literature than most, if not any of the western nations, should, 
as it were, have stopped at a fixed point of improvements^ 
without advancing any farther during a period of many cea- 

Ff 



338 LETTERS Let. XXIlL 

turies. It is somewhat difficult to account for this pheno*' 
Hienon ; perhaps, if we were better acquainted with the an- 
cient and modern history of that celebrated people, the dif- 
ficulty might either vanish, or be considerably lessened; 
and this remarkable circumstance in the history of the hu- 
man mind be ascribed to its true cause. The Chinese, ac- 
cording to the histories of that nation, transmitted to us by 
their own writers, have been less exposed to foreign inva- 
sion, less harassed by external wars, and less agitated by 
internal commotions, than almost any other nation ; and 
scarcely any great empire has, during so long a period of 
political existence, undergone so few revolutions ; for the 
Tartar conquest, one of the greatest and most important re- 
volutions which ever happened in China, was no more than 
a transfer of the sovereignty from one family to another, 
and made little or no alteration in the national institutions, 
and the genius of the people, as the Tartars adopted the 
manners of the Chinese, in every particular, even to their 
dress, instead of compelling them to conform to the customs 
^nd usages of the conquerors ; in which, circumstances con- 
sidered, the Tartars displayed a masterpiece of sound sense 
and good policy. 

This view of the Chinese history, delineated from the ac^ 
counts of their own writers, appears, on considering the local 
circumstances of that country, a pretty just representation. 
China, at an early period, replenished with inhabitants, and 
organized in a regular political system, was far the most pop- 
ulous and most powerful empire in the eastern parts of Asia, 
Separated by immense deserts from the western countries, it 
had seldom any attack to apprehend from that quarter. The 
nations to the south, or south-west, were far inferior in strength, 
and for the most part under the power, or at least the influ- 
ence, of the Chinese empire. On the east the sea was its 
barrier, and consequently the northern frontier was the only 
vulnerable part on which China apprehended and actually 
experienced an invasion from foreign enemies. This fron^ 
tier they fortified with that celebrated wall, which has beeii 
so much talked of, and which, although it exists a remarka- 
ble monument of the industry of the Chinese nation, was not 
found sufficient to resist the assaults of the Tartars, the only 
enemy that empire ever had to fear. The invasion and con* 
quest of that country, by the successors of Zinghis Khm, 



tET. XXIIL ON HISTORY. 53» 

was, however, of a desultory nature, and does not appear to 
have produced any very considerable revolution in the ge- 
nius, manners, and general state of the people ; and the last 
Tartar conquest, as already observed, was productive of as 
little alteration in this respect. In such a state of local secu- 
rity and political stability, joined to the advantages of a fer- 
tile soil and happy climate, it is somewhat wonderful that the 
Chinese, after having at so early a period displayed the acti- 
vity of the national genius, by as great a progress in arts, 
science^ and philosophy, as any of the nations of antiquity, 
ivithout exception, should have so soon arrived at the ne pins 
ultra of their intellectual and scientific attainments, and have 
remained to this day, in that respect, in the very same state 
in which they were many centuries ago. It is impossible, 
with the imperfect knowledge which the Europeans have of 
the Chinese, and their history, to assign with any degree of 
certainty the true cause of this singular circumstance. If 
we should hazard a conjecture, it seems hardly possible "to 
attribute it to any thing else than a slavish attachment to es- 
tablished systems, customs, and current opinions, which ex- 
tinguishes the spirit of inquiry and improvement in both reli- 
gion and philosophy, and in every department of human 
science, and of which the effects are discoverable at one pe^ 
riod or another in the history of almdst every people. 

Whether the Creator and Supreme Disposer of all, who^ 
in filling up the immensity of his plan, peopled the earth with 
various orders of beings, from man down to the lowest insect, 
has, in his infinite wisdom, thought proper to distinguish dif- 
ferent nations and races of men by a different measure of m- 
tellectual powers ; we, who see human nature modified and 
influenced by a thousand external and adventitious ciicum- 
stances, are not competent to determine. It is almost equally 
difficult to conceive in what degree physical circimistaares 
may operate on the mental facullies of the inhabitants of dif- 
ferent climates. If we contemplate and compare the ancient 
and present state of Italy and Greece, as well as of all the na- 
tions of modern Europe, and make just refiections on the de- 
cline of Grecian literature, and Roman valor, as well as on the 
extraordinary advancement of the formeilv barl>arous nations 
of Europe, in every species of inlellectua] improvement, it 
will appear that the faculties of the human mind, are much 
Tiiore strongly influence, and its piogress in kr^owledge more 



340 LETTERS Let. XXIII 

decidedly determined by moral than physical circumstances. 
In regard to bodily strength and constitution, physical causes 
ma}^ probably have a more powerful influence. The inha- 
bitants of the southerly climates are generally described as 
inferior in strength and courage to those of the more northern 
countries ; but, notwithstanding this general representation, a 
number of exceptions must be admitted. Perhaps the gene- 
ralily of the case maybe called in question ; and it is far from 
being certain, that the people of Africa, and some of the 
soutliern parts of Asia, are inferior in bodily strength to the 
Europeans and northeni Asiatics. It is, however, certain, 
that warm climates relax the springs of action, and render 
the inhabitants less inclined to vigorous exertions of either 
body or mind. The wealth and abundance generally fur- 
nished by the luxuriant soil and genial climate of the south- 
ern regions, are often supposed to have given the natives a 
j^, taste for luxury, but this is certainly an erroneous hypothe- 
^'' Bis. The nations of the south do not live more, but less lux- 
uriously than those of the north ; their luxury is of a differ- 
ent cast, and more tinctured with eiFeminacy and indolence. 
This is imagined to be the true reason why the southern na- 
tions have so often been conquered by those of the north. 
It may indeed be remarked, that the greatest and most re- 
markable migrations of the human race have been made from 
the nortliern towards the southern regions, and that the lat- 
ter have commonly fallen a prey to the northern conquerors ; 
wlicreas the people of warmer climates have never, in any 
one instance, extended their conquests very far to the north. 
Neither the Babylonians, the Persians, nor the Saracens, 
t'le most southerly of any of the great conquering nations 
Kientioned in history, ever proceeded far to the northward ; 
I ui \t must also be considered, that they had no inducement 
to cany their arms that way. The northern nations had 
niany and strong inducements to migrate and seek for con- 
quest and riches in ihe pleasant, fertile, and wealthy coun- 
tries of the south ; hut the people of those countries 
could have no temptation to alhire them into the imper- 
vious wildernesses and morasses of the northern regions ; 
and this may probably be one reason why the northern na- 
tions were never conquered by those of the south, and 
which may liave operated as powerfully in that respect as 



Let. XXIII. ON HISTORY. 341 

the supposed inferiority of strength and courage, and other 
martial qualifications, in the people of the southern climates. 
If we could clearly see all the different combinations of 
circumstances which have, through a succession of ages, di- 
versified and determined the condition of nations, we should, 
perhaps, find that a train of moral causes, forming them- 
selves, into an infinity of combinations, and operating with 
an infinite variety of influences, has determined the degree 
of intellectual perfection to which they can reach, as well as 
the place they must hold in the political scale, and that no 
essential physical difference between the different nations, 
into which the human species is divided, exists ; but that all 
seeming distinction of that kind, ail apparent intellectual pre- 
eminence or inferiority, depend upon a combination of caus- 
es, under the direction of that Providence which has marked 
out the course of human affairs, and set to both nations and 
individuals their bounds, which they cannot pass. 

In taking a retrospective view of the long revolution of ages, 
filled by the successive generations of mankind, and contem- 
plating the variegated scene of human existence, the mind is 
astonished at the wonderful exhibition, and cannot refrain 
from making serious reflections on the transitory state of all 
sublunary things. When we contemplate the subversion of 
empires, the fall of conquerors, the extinction of their families, 
and the inefficacy of all their projects and performances, we 
perceive the short-lived nature of all the objects of human am- 
bition. The kings, the heroes, and conquerors of antiquity 
are no more ; their very bones are long aga reduced to dust, 
and their names, which are all that is left of them in this world, 
are only an empty sound. Their posterity is either long 
since extinct, or their descendants are mixed with the great 
mass of ihe vulgar, undistinguished and unknown. Many lin- 
eal descendants of the most celebrated personages of antiqui- 
ty are among the number of poor labourers and mechanics of 
the present day ; and while their progenitors bore rule over 
mankind, the ancestors of the princes, the philosophers and 
. literati of the modern world, were leading a wandering and 
\savage life in the immense wildernesses of Denmark, Norway, 
iS'.veden, Russia, Poland, and Germany ; countries which 
were ali in a state of barbarism, while Greece and Rome were 
flourishing in arts and arms, and in the meridian of their glo- 
ry. So completely has all human power been overturned. 



m2 LETTERS, &c. Let. XXIIJ 

that om of the most celebrated Writers in the last century sayg 
that not one farniijcan be found, either in Rome, or any othe 
part of Italy, which can with certainty trace its genealoo-^ 
from the ancient Romans. Such are the vicissitudes "o 
this ever changing scene, exhibited on the moral theatre o 
the world. 

The philosopher, who takes a retrospective view of the 
history of mankind, and conte^nplates, with a spirit of obserVa^ 
tion and reflection, the complicated and interesting drama oi 
human existence throughout all its successive and varieo-ated 
scenes, from the earliest period of historical record to the 
present day, will, perhaps, find no difficulty in perceiving that 
imperious circumstances fix the destiny of nations and indi- 
viduals ; that various combinations of physical and moral 
Gatises, incalculably numerous, and extremely complex, deter« 
mine the political, religious, intellectual, and social condition 
of mankind; that all things concur to the accomplishment of 
one vast and mysterious plan ; and that the history of human 
affairs, and the history of Divine Providence, are essentially" 
the same. 

These observations and reflections, on the history of our 
ipecies, are offered to your consideration by an affectionate 
friend, at your own request; and you will undoubtedly make 
this further reflection on the vicissitudes of sublunary things, 
thatj however exalted the st-ation of any individual may be, 
or however extensive and conspicuous his sphere of ac- 
tion, its duration is extremely short ; and that the revolution 
of a few years puts an end to all artificial distinctions, and 
places the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the victor 
and the vanquished, on the same level. And you will be 
ready to make this conclusion, that, as in a dramatic represen- 
tation, it is of little consequence to the actors which of them 
appears is the character of the prince, or which in tliat of the 
peasant, since all are equal as soon as the play is ended ; so 
it is an affair of trifling importance what part we are destined 
to perform in the drama of human life ; the great point of con- 
sequence to lis is, h®w our respective parts are acted. 

I am, vSir, yours, &c. 



THE END. 



